


A Life Worth Living

by MelodyWaters7653



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Anxiety, Depression, F/F, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Mostly Fluff, Multi, Past Sexual Abuse, Physical Abuse, Post-Undertale Pacifist Route, Suicidal Thoughts, Verbal Abuse, Wordcount: Over 50.000, so many chapters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-26
Updated: 2020-08-13
Packaged: 2021-02-27 05:56:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 50
Words: 91,192
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22422205
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MelodyWaters7653/pseuds/MelodyWaters7653
Summary: Monsters are finally free! Still separate from human contact, no one knows that they truly exist outside of twisted myths and legends. Until you, an abused young woman decide to follow one of the greatest of all those legends: Those who climb the mountain never return.
Relationships: Alphys/Undyne (Undertale), Asgore Dreemurr/Toriel, Sans (Undertale)/Reader, possible hints of papyton
Comments: 71
Kudos: 96





	1. Chapter 1

**Sans:**

We’re… Free… The monsters are finally… Free? I don’t know how to feel about this. Everyone else seems to know exactly how to feel, but me…. I just don’t know. Papyrus is the happiest I've ever seen him. Every morning, he gets up before the sun so that he can say good morning to it. Heh, the sun is his new best friend. Undyne is well, Undyne. She’s the one ordering everyone around, making sure everyone is safe, helping everyone out of the Underground. Toriel is… Happy, but not… Not completely. Asgore is the happiest I've seen him ever. Alphys doesn’t wanna come out yet. Everyone around me knows what they feel and knows how to respond it seems. But I don’t yet. What I do know runs through my mind; running through what I know settles the confusion. It always does. What I know is this. The monsters are free, and the humans don’t know about us yet. I know that’s a good thing. I know that we have a lot of space before even making any sort of human contact. That’s also a good thing. I know the king has a plan. Now that is the best thing. I breathe a sigh of relief. But then I remember what I don’t know. I don’t know what will happen if, no, when the humans find us. I don’t know if we are safe. I don’t know if… If this will be permanent. I knew Frisk, the human who got us out, could manipulate timelines. But what I don’t know is if they still can. I don’t know them well enough to know that Frisk won’t just reset this timeline. I don’t know what the other timelines were. I don’t know how we will survive, I don’t know the king’s plan, I don’t…. I sigh. What use is it thinking about the things I don’t know? It just makes me lose my chill and God knows that that’s pretty much all I have. What I do know is simply enough. And if it isn't, it has to be. Besides, Paps is happy. Nothing else really matters.

"EVERYONE, GATHER ROUND!" Asgore's voice carries a lot further than it used to. I trudge my way over to Paps, who “gathered” very quickly that he was wanted. I smile at my own pun.

“BROTHER THE KING WANTS TO SPEAK TO US!” Paps excitedly tells me.

I smile lazily up at him, “Yeah bro, we better be quiet and listen then.”

“AH YES, I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS AM THE BEST LISTE-” He doesn’t finish before Asgore clears his throat and starts talking.

“Monsters, this is a very important day for us!”

“No kidding,” I mutter quietly.

“Today, we have been freed! Though no one is quite sure how, we all know that Frisk…” He trails off, looking for Frisk in the large crowd of probably half of all monsters. Toriel comes to the rescue and brings Frisk forwards, refusing to make eye contact with Asgore. He continues on. “Frisk here was the one to bring it about. They themselves don’t quite know what happened. However, we must now think of the future. Let us not dwell on the past.” Everyone gathers closer, hell, even I do. Surely he must be about to reveal his plan. “This day marks an era of humans and monsters living in peace. We have yet to meet a human though and for now, we...” he says, gesturing to Toriel. She purses her lips. “We believe that perhaps it should stay that way for a little while.” Everyone starts murmuring among themselves. “Now, now!” Asgore raises his voice and everybody hushes. “We must remember that most humans do not realise we exist. Some may never have even heard of us. We do not know how they will react and we must keep you safe, as your King, it is my duty.” He pauses for a minute. Everyone leans in. Personally, I think it’s a great plan so far. “We have reports that there is no human towns or villages for a great distance. Those may well be the only places that still know of our existence. So we all shall work together, like monsters always have, to make a new life for ourselves right here! On the surface, away from the humans. To rebuild what we once had, but better! This will be our surface home!”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone, before I get into this chapter, I want to put some serious warnings in, along with a general profanity warning.
> 
> 1\. This chapter has violence
> 
> 2\. It features domestic abuse (this is a theme that will continue, just so you are aware)
> 
> 3\. While there isn't (much) blood, there are broken bones and it's just a generally sh*tty situation

You sit on your bed trembling. Well, saying it’s a “bed” is a stretch. You sit on a yoga mat, in the “downstairs apartment” of someone else’s house. Either way, you are trembling horribly. The bruises and scars from a week ago linger and still hurt. You try to breathe deeply, but your panic attack is creeping in. You blink back tears and remember what you once read in a book, a way to try to fend off an attack. “My name is _____,” you whisper to your hands, “I am 22 years old. I am from New York.” You focus on trying to breathe. What did the character do next? She would talk about… About what was happening now. Past, present and then future. “I am not in New York,” you whisper, tears running down your face. “I am hiding from T-t-” you swallow. You can’t say his name. It would make him more real. You try again to breathe deeply. “I am hiding from him. I don’t know what will happen next.” Every time you thought about what had happened in the last month, you went into shock. Your ribs still ache. You can still taste the blood in your mouth. “N-n-no, I-I don’t want to go back……” you whisper, tears streaming down, your face twisted in agony. You can’t help it when you dream about it, but it gets harder and harder to stop it during the day. Your mind forces you to go back to the incident. You can’t stop it.

///

“YOU LITTLE BITCH, YOU BELONG TO ME.” The door slammed open in the hall and a looming figure appeared. Your boyfriend of five years. You had thought he was away for the weekend.

You squeaked and sat up straight, trying to hide the phone. “I-I-I was just-” You broke off as he slapped you. It stung badly. You could taste blood.

“I DON’T WANT EXCUSES, I WANT ANSWERS!” he yelled.

“Yes Todd, I’m sorry…..” you sob. You knew what happened if you didn’t apologise.

“Who was he. I saw you talk to him.”

You cowered to the side. “He was an old school frien-”

He struck you across the face again. “What did I say about talking to ‘friends’?! YOU HAVE NO FRIENDS, YOU WHORE.”

“Yes Todd, you’re right,” you choked out.

“You little slut, you made me cancel my trip. Get off the chair and get me food.”

“Yes Todd…” You got up immediately.

He spotted the phone. “What’s this.” You froze. “I asked you a question.” You didn’t dare answer. You could already feel the bruise on your cheekbone. “I ASKED YOU A QUESTION, SLUT.”

“A phone…”

“What have I said about phones, slut?”

“D-d-don’t use it…” you trailed off. “I was just calling my sis-”

“You what.” He wasn’t shouting. It was better when he was shouting. If he wasn’t shouting, he was either out of the house, drunk in his room, staying at his other girlfriend’s house, or about to seriously hurt you. He’d only done that once. What he did before was nothing to real pain.

“Well, it’s her birthday and…”

“What is the number one rule I have in this house.” You heard him get off the chair. You hadn’t even turned around. “Tell me. Now.”

You took a shaky breath. “You are my family, I need no one else.”

“Do you f*ckin think that I don’t f*ckin mean it?”

“No Todd…….”

“What I give you is luxury. And you turn and spit in my face?” You felt ashamed. He did give you a nice house, a TV, a double bed, a car. He truly did give you luxury. “Talking to a friend is one thing, but f*cking me over is something I don’t appreciate.” You heard his heavy footsteps and you flinch. His warm breath somehow chills the back of your neck. “You know you mean nothing to me. I have Jackie. I can turn you out to starve on the streets. It would mean nothing to me. You have no job. You won’t ever get one so long as you’re alive.” And he roughly shoved you over. The plush carpet did nothing to stop your fall. You cry out in pain. “You don’t deserve this. You don’t deserve me. You don’t deserve to be alive.”

“Yes Todd!” you whimpered.

“YES SIR,” he demanded, placing his foot squarely on your back.

“Yes sir!” you cried out.

“What you deserve is death, but I will be kind enough to let you live.” He stomped his foot down with a sickening crack. You screamed in pain. He swiped a huge vase off the table beside you. There was another crack and more pain as it landed heavily on you. “Ugh. Now I’ll have to get myself food.” He had walked off. You were shaking and crying so much you could hardly move. Pain was all you could feel. You must’ve lain there shaking and trembling for an hour. Suddenly, you heard sirens and your boyfriend’s voice sounded worried. “She’s just in here! Oh God, please, tell me you can help her!”

“We’ll do our best sir!” said a voice you’d never heard before. Within seconds, you felt hands on your back and you cried out in pain. “Ma’am, what happened?” You couldn’t even speak.

“I heard a crash and the next minute I came around the corner and she was here, like this! I didn’t know what to do, so… Oh please, will she be ok??”

A few hours and many tests later, you had been in the hospital and out again. You were back home. Todd was super nice and loving and told you to sleep in his bed that night, just in case it started to hurt. You could barely walk you were so tired, so he carried you bridal style into his room. The painkillers were doing their job. Well, a part of it at least. He laid you down in his bed, undressed you and tucked you up. That afternoon was all but forgotten to him it seemed. You nearly fell for it too. Until he started undressing. That’s when you realised he never cared. “Hey _____, it’s been a really stressful day today and, well, I am letting you sleep in here tonight. Would you mind doing me a ‘favour’?” You couldn’t say no, not after what had happened. You couldn’t have anyway, he was already on top of you. But for the first time, you had truly thought about how to make your escape.  
///

You shake yourself into the present. The yoga mat is still beneath you. Your ribs aren’t broken anymore. There is no blood in your mouth. He can’t possibly find you here. No, you took every precaution, you reason to yourself. You took money out of your joint account in cash so that your credit card couldn’t be tracked. You picked a random country that wasn’t near America. You purchased a one-way ticket out, under a different name. When you got there, you used the rest of your money to take the train as far away from the airport as possible. And even then you walked. No phone, no money. Surely… Surely he couldn’t find you.

 _But what if he does?_ your mind whispers, _What would he do to you then?_

“No! He… He can’t...” you whispered through the tears.

“_____, dinner is in an hour, you should start cooking soon.” That was Fran, the older woman who took you in when she saw you sleeping on the side of the road. She didn’t ask for money, just that you could do the housework that she was getting too old to do. But it was only until her son came back from a vacation in Austria. People were kind in this small town of Grensondale.


	3. Chapter 3

It has been a week in this small country town. It’s been a week and a day since you left home. You’ve had a week and a day to fight with yourself about your decision to leave. Sometimes you felt good about it and other times you’ve felt bad. Very bad. And this was one of those times. Shivering on the yoga mat, crying into your only jacket, still wearing the same clothes you came here in.

_Why did you leave him?! He was good to you, better than you deserved!_

_But……. He hurt me…_ This argument happened every day.

_You deserved it, you were just trash and he took you in!_

_He… He took me away from my family………_

_Because you didn’t deserve them. Hell, you didn’t deserve him. When he finds you… You’ll truly get what you deserve._

_I… No, I… I left that behind……_

Your only solace was learning and more importantly reading. When you read all the myths and legends surrounding this little town, you felt that the past was gone and you were in that world. The one where humans protected each other from the monsters who would hunt people down in packs, trying to take their souls. Everyone looked out for each other. That was the only reason no one died in those wars. So you bury yourself in one of the many books that Fran has. You’d finished most of your daily chores after all.

_“The skeletons chased her down, chanting incantations and rattling their bones. To them, she was well and truly caught. No one saw her sister come running up behind them, knife at the ready. Trapped against a wall, five angry skeletons closing in. She saw her soul flickering before them, felt her heart pounding. She was done for. She closed her eyes and felt… Ash? Dust? Dust! She was safe… She blinked the grey cloud out of her eyes. There was her sister, trembling and scared. ‘Oh my god, what did they do to you! Are you hurt?!’_

_‘N-no… Y-you… You saved me,’ she said, blinking back her tears.”_

You sigh. If only real life was like the stories… But the only person you had that had ever saved you was on the other side of the world. For some God forsaken reason, you found yourself loving him. You shut the book and smack your face against the cover. Tears started to stream down your face. Once, you had read in a book that tears were memories leaking out of your mind and into the ground, finally left behind. But that was as impossible as all these myths and legends. Those memories stayed put, determined to make your life miserable. Even the good ones. The first time Todd had bought you a book, when he had taken you to that fancy restaurant. The times he told you he loved you… He always apologised for overreacting… And yet here you were, selfish and stupid, overreacting and planning to never go back.

_No! He hurt you_

_He apologised_

_Not that last time…_

_But he loved you…_

_Did he?_

Did he? That was what it always came down to. Did he love you? All of the pointers said yes. He gave you attention, he gave you everything you could ever want. He made you happy, he was your everything… But…… All the same… He beat you. He put you down. Hell, you were second priority, he had Jackie! So why? Why did you feel this way?

“It doesn’t make sense!” you cry out through gritted teeth.

“What was that, dearie?” Fran must have heard you. She has fairly sharp hearing.

“Nothing!” you call back, putting on a fake smile as you do so. It helps to lighten your voice. “Just… Really into this book!” You wipe away your tears and sniff hard.

“Ok dearie. Could you come upstairs for a moment?”

You freeze. She doesn’t usually ask you to come upstairs unless there’s a job that needs doing, but there’s still a while until dinner time, and you finished everything else… “Just a moment, ma’am!”

“Ok _____, but do hurry!”

Now you were scared. Fran rarely called you by your name. It was mostly dearie or sweetie. You scrub at your face, trying to get rid of the tear tracks. Hopefully it won't puff up your eyes. You carefully walk up the rickety stairs and poke your head around the corner. She's sitting at the table with her old laptop open in front of her. You aren't sure whether she's happy or upset. “There you are dearie,” she says, looking up. “Oh, are you OK?” You can see the concern on her face.

You put on a false smile. “Oh yeah, I was just getting really into that book… Those monsters get pretty scary sometimes.”

Fran chuckles. “Oh dearie, I know, those myths can be quite frightening. But don't worry, they're just stories.”

You flush, slightly embarrassed. “Oh, I know that…” She looks up at you, a tear in her eye. “Is everything OK?”

“That's what we have to talk about, _____. My… My son, he…” She sighs. “He’s coming home early. You’ll have to leave.”


	4. Chapter 4

“Oh… That, that’s ok,” you hear your own voice say, with a forced smile. “I wouldn’t want to be a bother…” Leave? Where to? Where will you go?? Is this just a lie so she can force you to leave??

“_____, I really didn’t want it to have to be like this. I thought he would be away for another two months, but he said that he needs to come home quickly and that he has a solution for my problems… You’ve been such a help to me darling, and I would be happy to help you find another place,” she says, with a hopeful smile.

You shake your head. “N-no, I… I’ll be fine. Besides, I don’t have any money to rent.” You force yourself to smile, but it’s a weak smile and you can barely hold yourself together. “W-when will your son be coming home?”

The look in her eyes pains you. It helps you to start convincing yourself that it isn’t just an act. “He couldn’t tell me exactly… He said hopefully within the next week. I’m so sorry _____.” You take a shaky breath and nod. “I’ll ask some of my friends if they have space for you.”

You don’t quite know how to refuse her. On one hand, this was too much. You didn’t deserve this kindness! But on the other hand… The streets, even in a country village, aren’t the nicest place. “I… I’m sure I’ll be fine…” you stutter, trying to convince yourself as much as her.

She purses her lips. “Well, I’m not sure…. I’ll ask around anyway.” She looks at you directly in the eyes. “Dearie, do you need to go for a walk? I can order take-out tonight if you need time.”

You’re taken aback by this kindness. “N-no! I mean, yes, I’ll go for a walk, but I’ll be back before I have to cook! I’ll, I’ll be ok.” You pause, wondering how best to phrase the next question. “Would… Would I be able to…” You shut your eyes firmly. “To take a book with me?” you finish quickly. She chuckles softly. You open an eye cautiously.

“Of course you can dearie, why not? Which one?”

You open your eyes properly, slightly happier. “Um, the, the one I’ve been reading, please? All For One Against Them All?”

Fran smiles at you. “Ah yes, that one. I have a second copy of that. I meant to give it to a friend of mine one year, but she moved away to a bigger city before I could give it to her.” She smiles reminiscently. “That’s the one about the two sisters, yes? The one where they rally everyone to fight against the monsters?” You nod slightly. You like that one a lot; it reminds you of how close you were to your sister before… well. Fran continued. “I always did like that one. But I don’t need two of them. You can keep it if you like.”

Your eyes widen. “Wait, really?”

She nods, smiling. “I meant to give it to a friend, and you have been an excellent friend in my loneliness.”

“Seriously?!” You grin for the first time in… It must be years now. “Oh thank you,” you whisper, trying not to cry. “I’ll… I’ll be back to make dinner. Thank you ma’am.”

“Fran will be fine, _____,” she says, just before you round the corner. You nod, pick up the book and go out the back door.

You aren't quite sure how to feel.

_Well, at least I have a house for this week._

_But… what then?_

You would be alone again and back on the streets. You feel panic start to grip your bones. You'd never had to live on the streets before. You didn't even have anything to help you survive. All you have is a book. At least you had the book.

_A book isn't going to feed you or keep you warm. Think about it, it's useless. You could try and sell it…_

But… You don’t want to. It was stupid, impractical. But it was a gift, and you don't sell gifts. Besides, it wouldn't get much money anyway. It was an old fictional book. Most people would either already have it or not want it. And, well, you liked it. So that was settled. You wouldn't sell the book. You continue walking along the beaten track that you usually do until you come to the crossroad. Well, you only noticed today, after a week of walking past it that there’s a crossroad there at all. The other path is overgrown with grass and barely visible anymore. The trees start to get denser that way. You shrug. Might as well explore it. You won't get lost; now that you've seen the hidden path, you can't not see it. You turn onto it. The crunch of sticks makes you jump slightly, but it makes sense. The path is old and unused with piles of leaf litter hidden in the long grass. It scratches your legs slightly and the smell of broken grass gets stronger.

Five minutes of walking and it still hasn't brought you anywhere. _No wonder it's unused…._ You think to yourself. You decide to keep going. You still have a little while, why turn back now? The sky is still a clear blue; in the winter, it gets dark before you have to start cooking and there is no way you would wander this overgrown path at night. You shudder at the thought. You’ve never particularly liked the dark and this forested place would be eerie with strange sounds. The birds flittering around now sound cheerful enough but everything would change in the dark, you just know it. You shake your head to clear those thoughts. _There’s no point in thinking about that, it’s not like you’re coming back at night here._

 _Who would? No one in their right mind would._ You suddenly stop short, nearly walking into a signpost. You had been so busy thinking and looking at your feet that you didn’t think to look up. The sky is starting to finally get the faintest tinge of pink, signalling you should start heading back to Fran’s house. But before you do, your eyes linger on the wooden sign. It’s rickety and old, decaying from disuse. But you can still see the words written on it’s splintering wood. Lines had been gashed through each word, but even still you can read the words behind it. It reads:

“ **MOUNT EBOTT AHEAD** ”

You step back cautiously. “M-mount…. Ebott?” you whisper to yourself. “But… But that… That’s just… In a fictional book…” But what’s in front of you says otherwise.

 _Maybe it’s a place the book was based around……_ You think to yourself, but you can’t shake the memory of the first line in the book. In the light of the slowly setting sun, you pull out the book and read the first line.

“Those who climb Mount Ebott are doomed never to return.” Saying the words out loud send a chill down your spine. You can’t tell whether it’s from the onset of night, or the words themselves. You turn around and start walking back to Fran. It plagues your mind as you step out of the woods and back onto the beaten track. If Mount Ebott was real, then was the inscription a real thing too? Did people not come back? And if that were true… Then why didn’t they come back? Was that a common place for suicide? Or did they meet a horrible end? You shudder, coming back to earth out of your thoughts. You’d stayed out a little longer than planned and it was getting darker by the second. Soon it would be night. You hurry back along the road and into the house again.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quick warning, there is a bit of blood and a couple of rich assholes in this chapter. Make of that what you will, it isn't really all that exciting.

When you get back inside, Fran had just started to pick up the phone. “Oh _____, there you are, I was just about to order take-out for us.”

“Sorry ma’am, I didn’t mean to be out for so long. I’ll start cooking now. Usual Thursday night dinner?”

“Fran, dear. And yes, pasta would be lovely.”

“Sorry,” you say, looking at your feet. You still don’t feel comfortable calling her Fran. You’d rather stay away from any friendships for a while. They only get you hurt. You switch on the kitchen lights and light the stove, quickly getting out the pan for the sauce and setting the water onto boil. As you get out the vegetables, you think about that sign. Mount Ebott. “Excuse me, m- Fran,” you say awkwardly.

“Yes _____?” She walks closer so she can hear you better.

“That book you gave me…” You wonder how to phrase this question.

“What about it dear?” Fran asks kindly.

You glance up and see she’s looking down at you sweetly. You flick your eyes straight back down to the chopping board. “W-well, it’s fiction, right?”

“Oh no, it isn’t.”

You freeze and look up at her. “W-what?”

“On the first page, it says based on a real story.”

You breathe again and start to chop the vegetables. “Oh, is that all? I thought that was just for immersion.”

“Well, Mount Ebott is a real place.”

You smile slightly. “Yeah, I know, I saw the sign.”

“Goodness!” You look up at her, still chopping. Her eyebrows are nearly covered by her curly grey hair they’re raised so high. “That’s quite a long way away, no wonder you were gone a long while!”

You shrug, focusing on the vegetables again. “Eh, had a lot on my mind.”

“Don’t go that far away again dear, the legend is true. People who go that way don’t come back.”

You raise an eyebrow at the capsicum under the knife. “Oh?”

“The monsters are real too, you know.”

Your head whips up to look at her. She’s being serious. As you do so, your hand slips and the knife slices your skin. You’re bleeding, but you don’t notice. “W-what?”

“My mother was a child in the war. You’ve finished the book I gave you, haven’t you?” You nod slowly. “She went to school with the girl that book is based off. She gave some of the story to the author. So yes dear, monsters are real. And they were dangerous.” You feel yourself shaking. Fran gasps. “Oh dear! You’re bleeding!”

You look down, feeling the surreal feeling of dissociation. “Oh. I am.”

The knife trembles in your hand until Fran hobbles over and takes it out of your hand. “I think you should sit down dear. I can order food for tonight. There are bandages in the cupboard on your left.” She shuffles over to the phone and starts dialling. You stand there for what seems like 10 minutes but realistically was barely 10 seconds, staring at your blood seeping from your finger. The dissociated feeling slips away and you come to your senses. Beelining to the cupboard, you think it over.

 _So the book actually was based off a real story. The barrier is the only reason I’ve never seen a monster._ That in itself blows your mind. _Now, where are those bandages?_

~~~

_‘“Please!” Miriam cried out, her breath fogging in the cold night air. “Please, let us stay with you… My sister is sick and our home is gone…” The innkeeper looked at her parents through the slot in the door, and at what the stout man could only assume was an aunt. They were dressed in rags and snow was falling thickly. The other child looked pale._

_The father spoke up. “I must admit, we have no money and little we can do for you, but our home was destroyed by monsters a week ago and the snow started falling today. We have got by on the streets until tonight. Please, let us seek refuge with you.”_

_The man sighed. “Look ‘ere sir, I still got a livin’ ta earn, I can’t offer rooms for free.” He looked into the desperate eyes of the little girl and the pale face of her sister. “But… There is a lobby what that anyone can come inter for free.” He braces himself and opens the door to the cold. “Me name’s Charles, but you can call me Charlie.”_

You’re torn away from your little world. The doorbell rings loud and clear through the pitter-patter of rain on the tin roof. Fran is out at her friend Rosemary’s house, so you pry yourself away from the book and get up off the floor, holding your finger at the page you were reading as you pick it up. You’ve been reading the book more consistently over the last two days now that you know it’s true. It makes it more of an escape, giving you hope that maybe things can be that way again. Well, apart from the monsters. That part you’re fine without. You trudge slowly up to the front door, not sure who it could be. The doorbell rings again. “Just a moment!” you call out, quickening your pace and finding the keys. Fumbling it into the keyhole, you can’t think who it might be. Fran wouldn’t’ve rung twice and it’s raining. She would still be with her friend. You swing open the door. “Sorry, I was at the other side of th-” You freeze as you look up. Standing there is a man, probably in his late thirties, tall, slender and sharp, wearing a black suit jacket and slacks with a crisp white shirt. He has an umbrella open in one hand and a young woman on his other arm. She is the perfect picture of a typical Austrian. Blonde hair, blue eyes with a rounded chin. Her thin figure remains pressed into his side, making her look tiny. She looks sour, and from her expensive-looking attire, she was expecting more than this rundown shack. The white fur stole around her shoulders alone looked like it would cost more than this entire place. You stand there, staring, not quite sure who these people are or why they are here.

“Who are you?” the man says in a drawling and condescending tone.

“I… M-my name is _____,” you mumble.

“Speak up, nobody proper speak in such a barbarian manner.”

You straighten your shoulders self-consciously. “S-sorry. I’m _____.” You’d never noticed your accent so strongly until now. “Wh-who are you?”

“My name is Frederick and this here is my fiancée Elisa. Now do let us in, it is most rude to keep family waiting on the doorstep. Why are you even here?” You find yourself unable to breathe. This man, the one tapping his foot impatiently at you, is Fran’s son. You have to leave. “Well?”

You shake yourself mentally. “I-... I’m sorry,” you murmur, pushing past them and running. You hear his yell from behind you but you ignore him. You have an idea of where you’re going, even in the rain. Nothing will stop you. You just want to disappear.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You run as far as you can before falling and winding yourself. Getting back on your feet, you hear twigs snapping from behind you. Then footsteps. You run again until you run into Sans. He is a skeleton. You have only ever read that they are evil. You're terrified. After flicking through your book, Sans manages to convince you that monsters are not evil. He convinces you enough to come with him so you can do what you wanted to in the first place and escape humanity. Papyrus rings up and is very enthusiastic for a super long sleepover with a potential friend. Sans offers his hand, saying "Take my hand, I know a shortcut."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone, just a heads up/trigger warning: There are suicide mentions and a vague suicide plan in this chapter. If you have plans or thoughts of suicide, please contact a doctor or helpline. If this might trigger those thoughts, I've done a summary of the chapter for you.

Your feet slop through the wet, long grass as you puff and pant your way to that foreboding sign.

“MOUNT EBBOT AHEAD”

You don’t even stop to think and keep jogging, no longer able to run. The long grass irritates your bare shins and tears stain your face. You try not to think. If you pause, you’ll break down. This is too similar to running from… Well, running from home in the first place and then running from Todd. You refuse to think about it.

_Focus on your breathing, in… out… in… and out… Just keep running_

Suddenly, the ground flies towards you as you inevitably slip on the wet ground. It knocks the air out of your lungs. Wheezing, you drag yourself back onto your feet. At least in the thick of the trees, the rain is softer.

_Ok, no more running_

Your laboured breathing rasps in your throat and lungs. Walking is the best you can do. You can’t focus on running anymore, and your mind turns to… Less favourable things.

_What will you do when you get there?_

_D-disappear?_

_How?_

Well, how would you disappear? Only two options seem to present themselves as you trudge along slowly. Live out your life, on your own, trying to survive on this “cursed” mountain over the monsters, or… Well, throwing yourself down the mountainside is starting to seem like a better idea.

_I can’t survive on my own, I die either way. And bleeding out from broken bones piercing skin is much quicker than starving to death. Besides… Broken bones are nothing new……._

You shiver. You refuse to let him into this thinking. That would just be weak.

_So… This… This is my last day. What do I-_

You are snapped out of your thoughts by the cracking of sticks from behind you. You freeze and slowly look over your shoulder, dreading what you might see. A flash of blue and it’s gone.

_It must’ve been a bird….._

You try to still your beating heart. And then you hear the footsteps. Not looking back this time, you manage to move your feet. You vaguely hear a shout of, “Hey!” but start to sprint at full pelt. You were ending this on your own terms, not by some rapist-murderer in the woods. Suddenly, you smack into something that wasn’t there before. You start falling, but the figure grabs your arm and stops you from landing on your backside. “Heya. Is that really any way to greet a new pal?” You slowly look up and scream. A hand is clapped over your mouth. Well, not a hand. Bones. Finger bones. “Hey! Not here,” the- the _thing_ says firmly but softly. You try to rip your arm from its grip, but it doesn’t budge. “What are you doing out here?” it asks, moving its hand from your mouth. It has a male voice. You press your lips together and refuse to look at it. “What’s your name?” it asks when the other question falls on deaf ears. Again, you refuse to speak. “Friendly,” it mutters. “Well, I’m Sans, Sans the Skeleton.” You start to tremble like a leaf. You’ve been caught by… by a skeleton. A living…

“Monster,” you whisper.

“That’s not a very nice thing to call someone,” it says. There’s humour in its voice. Then, “How do you know?” Without thinking, your hand releases the book you’ve held onto this whole time. It falls to the ground with a thud. “Sans” looks at the book. “Read about us in a book somewhere?” it asks, probing slightly. You nod stiffly, still not looking at the black eye sockets you first saw. “You ok? I mean, I get that I’m a skeleton, but you look like you think I’m gonna kill ya.” You start trembling more violently. Suddenly, you can’t move. You start to panic and look around, wide-eyed. You look down and see a deep blue heart shape in front of your chest. And that you’re hovering slightly above the ground. Just beyond that, “Sans” has picked up your book and is flicking through it. The pinpricks of light that were floating in the eyesockets disappear and the monster looks even scarier. You start to panic even more. You find it hard to breathe, claustrophobia sets in.

_This is where I die…_

As quickly as it happened, the tiny lights come back and you can breathe and move again, but your arm is already in a death grip again. It snorts. “Wow, legends got super twisted up here. Me? Never killed a single person, me and me bro are the only two skeletons to even exist.” Your breathing slows slightly. “Not gonna kill ya.” His grip relaxes, but your immediate response isn’t to run. You’re too unsure of yourself.

“_____,” you whisper, looking at the ground.

“What?”

“My name. It’s _____.”

“Oh. Bit delayed, but cool. Nice name. Suits you,” he says, letting your arm go and looking you over. “Like I said, Sans.”

“H-hi. S-so, how are you here?”

He chuckles slightly. “How much do ya know?”

“Monsters were trapped under Mount Ebbot and that no-one ever returns from the mountain.”

He flinches ever so slightly. “Right. Well… One did at least. They’re the one that freed us. The barrier, the thing that trapped us… It’s gone.”

“And you aren’t going to try and kill all humans?”

He laughs. “Nah, you guys outnumber us one to a million. Besides, the war did happen, but uh, not like that book.” He looks at you curiously and you suddenly find yourself feeling ashamed. It’s like he looks straight through you. “So, why are you here?”

You can’t meet his eyes… If you can call them that. “N-nothing…”

“Hmm.” You can feel his gaze on you. You want to run, but you’re rooted to the spot. “You know,” he says with a sigh, “sometimes I just wanna up and disappear too.”

You look up, shocked. “H-how did you-?”

He smiles ruefully. “Eh, you mentioned knowing that no-one ever returns from here and we, uh, don’t see people ‘round these parts.”

“O-oh. Right.” There’s a pause.

_What is going on???_

“Ya know, if you’re feeling down or, ya know, a bit unsure about us monsters… Hell, if you wanna run from humanity even, I’m sure Paps will be happy to have another person around at home.”

Your head is spinning. “Paps?” you ask, helplessly confused.

“Oh, right. Papyrus, he’s my bro.” Sans stands there, looking at you expectantly.

“W-well…” On one hand, this is insane. These are beings who, just this morning, were the very embodiment of evil to you. On the other hand… Isn’t that exactly what you want? To disappear from humanity? A small glimmer of hope for your life fires up inside you.

“Hey, no hurry, I’ve got a bit of time to laze around out here. One might call me a lazybones,” he says with a wink. You don’t really react, you just feel numb, trying to process all of the conflicting emotions and thoughts. He scratches his skull awkwardly. “Eh heh, just tryna lighten the mood.”

_Death or this tiny hope? Death or possible life? Death or..._

“I… C-can I go with you?” you murmur.

Sans raises the equivalent of an eyebrow. “Sure.” His phone suddenly starts to play a jaunty tune rather loudly. “One sec,” he pulls out a flip phone and the absurd sight of a skeleton on a phone makes you crack a tiny smile. “Hey bro, what’s up?”

You can clearly hear the other person through the receiver. “SANS WHERE ARE YOU? I TOLD YOU TO PICK UP THAT SOCK!”

He grins. “But bro, I did! I moved it when we moved to the surface.”

There’s a loud sigh. “THAT IS NOT WHAT I MEANT AND YOU KNOW IT!!”

Sans shrugs. “What can I say? I like it where it is.”

_He’s an animated talker…_

_Which one?_

_Both_

“Oh, by the way, Paps, you don’t mind someone coming to stay with us for a while, right?” You freeze. This is where you get rejected.

_It was stupid to hope like that..._

“OH, YOU MEAN LIKE A SLEEPOVER BUT PERPETUAL?”

He grins. “Yeah, something like that.”

“WHO IS IT? HAVE YOU MADE A NEW FRIEND?”

Sans gives you a sideways glance as you stand there, awkwardly watching and hearing this phone call. “I guess you could say that.”

“WOWIE!!! I WOULD LOVE TO MEET SOMEONE WHO IS FRIENDS WITH MY BROTHER! AND I AM SURE THEY WOULD BE HONOURED TO MEET THE GREAT PAPYRUS! NYEH HEH HEH!”

“Ok bro, well, I’ll bring ‘em home, ok? See ya soon,” he says, hanging up and snapping the phone shut. “Well _____, I guess it’s time for us to go. Take my hand, I know a shortcut,” he says with a wink, holding out his hand.


	7. Side-chapter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This isn't really a chapter, just how Fran reacts to your disappearance

As Fran stepped into her house, she knew something was wrong. For starters, the door was unlocked. Secondly, there wasn’t the clattering of dishes that _____ would be using to make dinner now. And thirdly, there were two voices that she didn’t recognise. “H-Hello?” Footsteps. Distinctly not ______’s. “Who’s there?”

The owner of the footsteps came into view. “Hello mother, it’s been a while.”

Fran gasped. “Fr-Fred?”

He tutted slightly. “Frederick. And yes. I have someone who I would like you to meet.”

Fran peered around, ignoring the glamorous woman her son had brought home with him, who was delicately out of place in the rundown lounge room. “Where is _____?”

“Who?”

“_____,” she insisted. “She was staying here and looking after me.”

He tilted his head almost quizzically. “You wouldn’t perchance mean the impoverished young girl who left us on the doorstep, would you? She was quite rude.”

Fran wrinkled her brow in confusion. “_____ wasn’t like that, you must be mistaken…”

“Did you have anyone else staying with you?” He raised an eyebrow. “Last I knew of this… ahem, humble abode, there was only one other room.”

She shook her head. “Well, anyway, which way did she go?”

Frederick looked at her, concerned and frankly disgusted. “What, you want to go after her?”

“I-” Fran sighed. She knew she couldn’t go after you. “Which way?”

“In the direction of the mountain.”

“The… The mountain?” All the colour drained out of her face. “No…” Fran shuffled over to her reading chair and put her head in her hands. “I’ll never see her again.”


	8. Chapter 8

Warily, you grab his hand. Suddenly, wind is rushing past your head and you can’t see a thing. You cry out in shock, but your voice doesn’t make a sound. The only thing you can sense at all is the bony fingers of the skeleton. You cling on for dear life.

_Is this what death would be like?_

You can’t tell whether you said it aloud or thought it, but either way, it makes you feel a little better about your decision to go with Sans.

_What have you gotten yourself into, _____?_

You feel yourself losing your grip on his hand and squeeze tighter. Wait, there’s ground beneath your feet again. You hadn’t realised but your eyes were still closed. “_____?” You sway unsteadily on your feet. “Whoa whoa, open your eyes, we’re here now, hey…” You slowly blink your eyes open, feeling sick. “Whoa… Hey come on, sit down…” The world spins as Sans leads you to a couch and pushes you gently onto it. “_____, are you ok??” The couch sags beneath you and the world sways before you. You shut your eyes again to avoid vomiting. “Oh god, Frisk wasn’t like that, maybe other humans are different… Just uh, sit there or lie down or something… Paps must be out.” You hear Sans’ footsteps leading away and focus on not throwing up. The throbbing in your head is nearly unbearable. You hear the footsteps hurrying back and feel a cold damp cloth on your forehead. “Um, uh, Tori mentioned that was a thing that you do, um, oh god uh…” He gently grabs you by the shoulders and lays you down. Your damp jeans wrinkle around your thighs. You can hear his panicked breathing and then the scrape of a chair being pulled up as he lets you go. You peek out from under your eyelashes. He’s really worried. You can see it clearly, his eye sockets are tinged with purple and he has his head in his hands. You take a deep breath and find that the pain in your head clears a little. Another deep, slow breath and it happens again, the pain clears from your head almost completely. One more and you can open your eyes and start to sit up. His head jerks up immediately and you hear an audible sigh of relief. “Oh god, I thought… A-are you ok?”

You remove the cloth which is quite warm now. “Y-yeah… I’m f- er, I’m ok.”

He looks super relieved, all tint of purple gone now. “Ok… Thank god…” He shakily gets up. You’re quite surprised, he really was overwhelmingly worried for you. He stumbles over to what looks to be a floor to ceiling cupboard. “Do you want a drink of somethin’?” he asks.

You sit up properly, blinking in the bright light. “S-sure?” you murmur.

“Whatcha want? We gotta head out again soon so quickly would be great.” You hear him mutter under his breath, “not doing that again ever…”

You can’t help but smile, even if it is the thinnest of smiles. “Water’s fine.” You watch as he turns to the high cupboard and… Hang on, wait, that’s a freaking sink??

“Why is your sink so high???” you question in a puzzled voice, trying to ignore floating cups as he gets water for the both of you.

He chuckles with his back to you as he watches the glasses carefully. “Ehh, it was me bro’s idea. He uh, wanted to fit more bones under it so the dog couldn’t get them.”

You raise your eyebrows. “You have a dog?”

“Ehhhh, kinda, but not really. His name’s Toby and he just kinda… Wanders around. He’s everyone’s dog.” He brings the cup over to you.

“Thanks,” you say softly, taking it.

“No prob. I would usually say bone appetit but uh, it’s water. That joke isn’t very flavourful for the dish,” he says with a wink as he sits in the chair he pulled up earlier. You only just stop yourself from chuckling and facepalming, both of which you deemed were inappropriate for a bad pun like that. You can’t, however, stop yourself from smiling. He grins. “Puns are kinda my thing. I’m very humerus you know,” he winks again.

You groan with a grin yourself. “If you keep winking, you’ll end up with only one eye working properly.” His expression changes slightly to confusion before bouncing back again. You don’t think it polite to ask why. He shakes his head slightly to himself and downs the water.

He gets up and tosses the glass over his shoulder; oddly enough, it doesn’t break. “We gotta get moving before my brother comes back from work.”

“W-why’s that?” you ask, slightly nervous.

“We need to show that book you found to the King. And you, for that matter.”

“The… The King?”

Sans shrugs. “Yeah, well, he should probably know what humans think of us still and that a good one is living with us.”

_Fair point_

“Will you… are you gonna do the thing again?” you ask warily.

“Oh no, definitely not!!” Sans looks alarmed at the very idea. “Nah, we can walk, it isn’t too far. Besides, there’s a way around the centre of town. We’re going that way. You can look around the house later.” You place the half-empty glass on the table and Sans grabs your now free hand, picking up the book with the other. “Let’s go. Tori doesn’t like it if you interrupt their dinner.”

“Is Tori the king?” you ask as you walk through the house to the back door, now no longer hand in hand.

“Oh, heh, nah, Toriel’s the queen. Asgore is the king.”

“R-right…” you mutter, not wanting to ask about politics.

_Do monsters even have politics??_

You trudge through the wet grass along with Sans. Thankfully the rain has stopped. He weaves slowly in and out between the trees. With the sky still clouded over, it’s hard to tell the time. Eventually, you reach a house on the edge of the mountain. Sans checks his watch. “6:30, right on dinner time.” He grins back at you. “Means we get free food.” He knocks. “Knock knock!”

From somewhere inside, a woman’s voice calls, “Who’s there?”

“Theodore.”

You hear a deeper voice sigh and say, “Theodore who?”

Sans grins at you. “Theodore wasn’t open, so I knocked.” You groan and roll your eyes. “You’re smiling,” he says to you with a teasing grin. The door opens and you hear laughter from inside. Three voices.

A large… creature, opens the door. You feel the blood drain out of your face but you also feel Sans grab your hand. It looks like… a huge goat, standing on two legs. But it’s huge horns look dulled. And the eyes look kind. You start breathing normally again. “Howdy Sans what do you do here at… this time…” He turns to look at you, ducking so he can see from under the doorframe.

“Heya Asgore, this is _____, found her roaming the woods and she thought she’d stay a while.”

Asgore’s eyes gain a curious look. “Strange… There’s no one around for miles…. Anyway, come on in, we were just sitting down to dinner. You can join us if you like, follow me.” He smiles at you and then turns around. Pots and pans are already clanging in the next room. They remind you of Fran. Oh gosh, how is she doing without you, what’s happening to her… You didn’t mean to leave like that...

Sans raises an eyebrow with a smirk. “Told you,” he whispers. It snaps you out of your misery.

_She’ll be fine, she has her son to look after her now. He’s kind of an asshole… But she’ll be fine._

“Come through here, this is my, er, child Frisk and my lovely wife Toriel in the kitchen. I’m sure there are more chairs around somewhere...” He wanders off looking for chairs after pulling out his for you. You nervously perch on the huge armchair.

“Hey _____, I’m just gonna ring my brother and tell him where we are. We might be here a little while.” Sans walks into the next room.

_Great… Left alone with new people._

“I’ll be with you in a minute my child,” Toriel calls from the kitchen. You look across to Frisk and they smile gently at you. They’re… Human? An adopted child, maybe.

“Frisk is it?” you ask nervously. They nod and their smile widens. “You… You’re human, right?” you ask, smiling nervously. They nod again.

Toriel comes in, arms ladened with an assortment of crockery. She sets a new place for you and another for Sans. “Frisk doesn’t talk all that much,” she says, smiling fondly at the young child. You look at Toriel. Another goat? She’s smaller than Asgore though. She has a kind air about her. “Are you alright child?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine!” You smile, trying not to seem anxious or depressed. “Just tired.”

“It must have been a long walk for you to get here! No wonder.” She smiles at you. She’s such a… A mother. You don’t really remember much about your family. You haven’t seen them for years and years.

“Hey, so uh, Asgore?” Sans calls out, shaking you from your thoughts.

“Yes?” the voice booms from upstairs somewhere.

“_____ and I have something to show you before we sit down for dinner, k?”

“Yes, what is it?”

“It can’t be long dear, dinner will get cold!” Toriel interjects kindly.

Sans glances at you with a slight ‘I told you so’ look. “Nah, don’t worry Tori, we’ll talk about it later.” He starts walking out of the room and then turns to look back at you. “You coming?”

“Yeah, I guess…” You hop out of your chair, and you can feel Toriel watching you.

_She knows something is wrong… She knows I’m garbage… She probably thinks I shouldn’t be here… She knows… She probably thinks I should’ve just killed myself…_

“Look, I’m not one to call the kettle black, but hurry up a little?”

“Sans!” Toriel hushes him. “It’s alright dear. It’s a lot to take in.”

You speed walk to Sans and he raises an eyebrow curiously. He shrugs and starts climbing the stairs. “Hey Asgore,” Sans says quietly when you catch sight of him wondering how to get the large chair down the stairs. “_____ got a book from the humans about the war.”

He turns around. “Oh? I’ll have to have a look. Pass it here.” Sans passes the book over. “We’ll look at it after tea.”

Sans glances at you. “Uh, can we look at it without Frisk around? It’s uh, not exactly accurate and I got a few things I’d like ta say about it.”

Asgore thinks for a moment. “Well, perhaps we should look at it tomorrow then. Tori and I are headed back into the underground for a meeting with Dr Alphys. We can have a look at it then.” He places the book in his pocket. “For now, would you mind helping me with this chair Sans?” He turns to you with a smile. “You may go sit down with my wife. I hope you enjoy your stay.”


	9. Chapter 9

“Hey Tori, what’s for dinner?” Sans calls as he comes back down the stairs, the chair floating from blue magic.

Toriel rushes over. “Oh my!! Be careful with the chair!”

“Hey hey, no worries, I got it.” Sans places it gently down at the table. You watch on in amazement. “Still one short.”

“Don’t worry, I have another one,” Asgore calls with a smile.

Toriel starts dishing out food. “How much do you want my child?”

“P-pardon?” you ask. Pardon? Who uses the word pardon?? You mentally facepalm.

“How hungry are you?” She smiles kindly at you, a large pot of stew in her arms. “I heated up extra for both of you.”

“Thanks Tori,” Sans says, flopping down in the chair he just brought in.

You stand awkwardly next to the table. “Uhh, I’m, um, not that hungry…”

“Oh what nonsense! You walked a long way to get here, you must be starving.” Toriel ladens your bowl with the stew despite what you had said. “It has carrots, turnips, leeks and chicken.” She looks worried. “You aren’t allergic to that sort of thing, are you?”

“Oh, no no, that’s fine,” you stutter.

“Do sit down, _____,” Asgore says from behind you. “Here, sit next to Sans, clearly you know each other somewhat.”

“O-ok…” you murmur.

“Would you like something to drink? We have plenty of options,” Toriel says.

“N-no really! I’m fine!”

“Hey, let’s just eat, I’m practically skin and bones,” Sans says with a wink. Toriel chuckles and nods. “Bone appetit,” he says to you, smirking slightly. You snicker slightly.

Asgore coughs slightly as the mismatched monster family start to eat. “So, _____, how long will you be staying?”

“Uhh…” You glance at Sans, not knowing how long he’ll keep you.

Sans covers for you. “Eh, she’ll be living with Paps and us for as long as she wants,” he says, flashing a grin at you. “Oh, by the way, forgot to mention, because you’re staying for a heh, ‘sleepover’ of sorts, Paps has invited Undyne and MK around.”

Toriel frowns down into her meal. “Yes, he called to invite Frisk as well, but school starts tomorrow. I hope little Michael gets enough sleep.” Frisk pouts from behind her and crosses their arms.

“Heh, MK will be fine, Papyrus is always up early.”

“Speaking of Papyrus,” Asgore starts. Sans turns his full attention on him. “Would you mind having a talk to him about not having to bring up every stone of what was in the underground up here?”

“Aw, but he loves it…” Sans says with a sad smile. “I don’t think I could break his heart like that.”

The king chuckles. “Well, I suppose we need every resource we have…” He sighs. “Well, Frisk, after school tomorrow, we’ll drop you over to Papyrus. You can play with him and MK then, ok?” Frisk’s face lights up with anticipation.

Sans grins at them. “Yeah, well, it’ll only be Paps, sorry kid. _____ and me are heading back underground with your mum and dad, see Dr Alphys again.”

Frisk clears their throat. “Can…. I c-come?” they ask slowly, processing every word they say.

Toriel looks alarmed. “Oh no my child! It is far too dangerous down there now! Everything is loose and collapsing now that we’ve moved up here!” Frisk huffs. “You must stay with Papyrus and Michael.”

_Ok so Papyrus, Alphys, Undyne, Frisk, Tas- no Toriel, Asgore, Michael… So many names!!!”_

“Oh dear, you’ve barely touched your stew!” Toriel looks at you with a worried gaze. You shake yourself back to the present and so as not to offend her, you start eating the hearty meal. Everyone keeps talking around you.

“Hey Frisk, tomorrow, can you make sure Paps doesn’t burn down the house while I’m out? Undyne won’t be there to encourage him to do it, but he might anyway.” Sans chuckles. “I reckon I can trust you more than him.” Frisk nods determinedly. Sans winks. “Knew I could trust you kid.” Sans keeps talking to Frisk about things that gradually get less and less interesting to you, but clearly mean a lot to Frisk. Hobbies and the like.

Toriel and Asgore are having their own conversation. “How do you think _____ will react to the amalgamates?” Toriel asks gently.

_Amalgamates?_

“We cannot be sure just yet, but they will be with Dr Alphys, so no harm will come to her.”

Toriel nods. “Mm, yes, that is true.” She turns to you, not realising that you had heard that. “_____, what is in that book?” Out of the corner of your eye, you see Sans grow more alert to your conversation, though still talking to Frisk who smiles happily.

“Well, it’s um, a book of the war.” The table falls silent.

“I didn’t know there were any…” Toriel murmurs, as Sans gets back underway with a conversation, distracting Frisk entirely.

“W-well, I don’t know how true it is…” you trail off, knowing that Sans disregarded it as utter nonsense. But, Fran’s mother had been around to tell tales of it… “How long ago was the war?”

Asgore and Toriel look at each other, with a worn, heartbroken look of sadness. “It must be… well, nearly 300 years ago.”

“But that can’t be right!” you splutter. They look inquisitively back at you. “Uh, well, what I mean is, humans don’t live that long and Fran, a human I know, said her mother was around when it happened.”

Asgore thinks for a moment. “Humans often get mixed up with years. Maybe it was her grandmother. Monsters… We have never forgotten, those of us that lived through it. Even Gerson remembers the date it started and he is extremely forgetful.” Asgore smiled grimly. “No, it has been 297 years ago. We remember.” You’re fork makes a clinking noise. You look down at your plate. You hadn’t realised how hungry you were; it’s all gone.

“I’m sorry it… it must be a painful memory. Dinner was really good though,” you say, hoping to make Toriel feel a little better.

She looks so sad… But at the compliment, her face brightens and her eyes smile at you. “Thank you dear, and do not worry about our memories, we have dealt with them for that long. You may stay with us whenever you wish to, ok dear?”

“Yes, there will always be room with us,” Asgore says.

Sans looks over upon hearing those words. “Yeah, well, _____ is staying with us for the moment, right?” He looks at you, the same way he did when you first met, when he was talking with you about how he too wished he might run away from everything. Deep sadness, a rueful smile across his face. You could see the hope draining from his eyes. It cuts deep into your chest. You’ve felt like that before. The thought that someone else’s offer is better and that your friend will leave you behind.

_He… He actually does want me around._

“Yeah, that’s what I said, isn’t it?” you say, smiling timidly. You see the hopelessness leave him.

_Good, that isn’t a nice feeling_

Toriel smiles back at you both. “Yes, of course you must stay with Sans and Papyrus, we just want you to feel welcome here whenever you wish to come around, even if just for tea.”

Sans grins back, getting up from his chair. “Well, if we wanna get any resemblance of a good night’s sleep, we better get going. Tori, Asgore, Frisk? We’ll tea you later, ok?” he winks back at them all. Frisk giggles, Tori chuckles softly and Asgore smiles and shakes his head.

“But before you go,” Toriel says, getting to her feet and moving to the kitchen. “You must take some of my butterscotch cinnamon pie.” She passes you wrapped up pieces of the pie. There’s five of them. “Send our love to Papyrus, Undyne and Michael.”

“Will do Tori, and we’ll send apologies for Frisk,” he says with a chuckle, ruffling the kid’s hair in an affectionate manner. “_____, you coming?” You walk over to the door, smiling slightly. Sans holds the pieces of the pie and opens the door for you.

“Thanks,” you murmur, holding it for him. “Bye! Thank you for having me!” you call out.

“No worries dear, it was lovely to meet you,” says Toriel, who walks up to the door, holding it for Sans. “We’ll see you again, I have no doubt.”


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just FYI, I call MK (or Monster Kid) Michael for story purposes. Your parents would be pretty bad if they called you "human child", so I figured that Monster Kid was a name he adopted for himself.

“So, how’d you like Tori and Asgore?” Sans asks as you walk in the mild evening.

You think for a minute. “Toriel is nice and… Motherly,” you muse.

Sans chuckles. “Yeah, she’s everyone’s mum.”

“Asgore’s kind and kinda seems a bit goofy,” you say, thinking over the dinner time you all shared.

Sans looks at you appreciatively. “Damn, you’re good at reading people.”

You look at him. “Yeah, well, books are good practice.”

He stops and narrows his eyes slightly at you. “Was that an attempt at a pun?”

“I… I guess?”

“Good.” He straightens up and keeps walking on. “So… When we get back to my place, uh, well, your place too I guess… Anyway, when we get there, my bro’s gonna be home.”

“Papyrus, right?”

Sans grins. “Wow, quick with names. I suppose I talk a lot about him, huh?” He sighs. “Well, I’m just gonna warn you, he… He can be a bit loud. Quite loud actually. And very friendly and boisterous.”

You nod. “Thanks for the warning,” you murmur. “Sometimes noise isn’t great for me.”

Sans looks at you, slightly puzzled, but it quickly goes away. “Then I really ought to warn you that Undyne, one of the friends he has over… She can be even louder. She… Uh, well, she does have an inside voice but doesn’t really use it.” He scratches the back of his skull. “She’s um… Passionate.” He looks over at you. “If you need to have some time to yourself, just tell me. You have a room.” He suddenly smacks himself in the forehead. “I forgot! I hadn’t given you a tour of the house, I meant to, but the uh… Ahem, thing happen. Sorry, oversight on my part.” You just nod quietly. “You’re not super talkative, are ya?”

“W-well, I can be, it just depends on… well, a lot of stuff.”

“Oh? What sort of stuff?”

“Well, who I’m with, where I am, what happened, the topic of conversation, things like that.” You pause, wondering what the reason was this time.

_You probably made him feel like he was talking to a stone wall. Good job._

Sans merely nods. “Makes sense. I guess that’s the same here. I kinda talk to make people feel better.” He shrugs. “How are you doing now?”

You smile nervously as you see the house in the distance; the lights are on and voices can be heard from here. “Bracing myself for what strange thing will happen next,” you admit. Sans is the sort of per- monster that you feel you can be honest with.

He grins. “Heh, I don’t blame ya. Oh, should probably mention that Paps is a skeleton like me, and Undyne is a fish. And that MK,” he looks at your confusion. “Uh, Michael, he just prefers to be MK. He reckons it makes him sound cooler. To be honest, it does.” Sans pauses, trying to remember what he was saying. “But yeah, MK will be there too. Huge fan of Paps, follows him everywhere.” Sans chuckles. “Never really see one without the other nowadays.”

“How often does he stay over?” you ask slightly nervously.

“Oh not that often. Don’t worry _____, it’ll generally be just us and Paps at home.”

You look up at the door. The talking, sorry, shouting has become a lot louder. Sans gives you a look of ‘here we go’ and knocks on the door. The voices go quiet immediately. “Who’s there?” calls a voice.

“Hey, I didn’t even get to say knock knock,” says Sans.

“OH! IT’S MY BROTHER!” cries a voice you recognise, muffled by the door. “DID YOU LEAVE YOUR KEYS HERE AGAIN?”

“Yeah. I guess you could say I’m a bit of a bonehead,” Sans says with a grin. There are three long groans from inside and the door opens slowly.

“WHY DIDN’T YOU JUST TELEPORT IN?” a tall skeleton asks loudly. You look up at him. He’s wearing what looks like a superhero costume with a cape and large boots and gloves. You glance at Sans.

“Well that’s a bit of a story, but you’ll have to book in a time to hear it.” The tall skeleton who you presume is Papyrus looks like he’s about to slam the door in Sans’ face for the pun, but before he does, he spots you.

“OH!! IS THIS THE HUMAN?!”

“I don’t see any other humans around, do you?” Sans asks with a grin.

Papyrus huffs. “YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN. HELLO HUMAN, I AM THE GREAT PAPYRUS, BUT I SHALL ALLOW YOU THE HONOUR TO JUST CALL ME PAPYRUS.” You chuckle nervously. “SANS, I MADE THEM LAUGH! SEE, I CAN BE FUNNY TOO!”

“Never said you weren’t bro,” he grins. “This is _____, she’s gonna be livin’ with us for a while.”

“Hold up!” calls a new voice. “You just met a human and now they live with you?!” You look around and feel your face pale slightly. A blue lady is coming towards the doorway and she looks extremely muscly. She looks like she could punt you to another country without breaking a sweat. She could almost pass for a human until you countered in that she’s blue and look at where her ears would be. She has fins instead, and an eyepatch. You breathe deeply.

_Thanks for the warning, Sans…_

“THAT’S SO COOL!! Heya punk! I’m Undyne!” She thrusts out her hand to you. You cautiously shake her hand and smile nervously. “Who are you?!”

“____,” you say.

“Well, this is great and all, but I’d love to actually come inside,” Sans says, breaking up the vigorous handshake Undyne was giving you.

“I wanna meet the human!” calls a young voice from behind Undyne.

She grins and you notice her sharp teeth. “Yeah! We’re coming!” she calls back to the voice. You can only assume it’s MK. She turns back to you. “Come on in! Have you been in here yet?”

“Kinda…” you say.

“SO DO YOU NEED A HOUSE TOUR _____?” Papyrus asks.

“Y-yeah, that’d be great, thanks.”

“SANS, WHY DIDN’T YOU DO THIS ALREADY?”

“Like I said, long story.”

“VERY WELL. WELL _____, I SHALL DO THE HONOUR OF ESCORTING YOU THROUGH OUR HOUSE! HERE YOU SEE, WE HAVE OUR LOUNGE ROOM. WE PLAN TO MAKE A BLANKET FORT LATER HERE!” Papyrus grins excitedly. “I HOPE YOU SHALL PARTICIPATE IN OUR ACTIVITIES TONIGHT!” You look back at Sans and he shrugs. “THAT OVER THERE… IS SANS’ SOCK. HE NEVER PUTS IT IN HIS ROOM!”

“Hey! I like it there, alright?” Sans calls defensively from his conversation with Undyne.

“YES BUT I DON’T! AND NEITHER DOES THIS HUMAN I’M SURE!” Papyrus continues into the kitchen. “THIS IS OUR KITCHEN, ISN’T THE SINK AMAZING? I THOUGHT OF IT MYSELF!”

Sans appears at your side and you jump in shock. “Does that make you a… Bone-afide inventor?” he asks with a grin.

“SANS!! YOU ARE RUINING THIS LOVELY EVENING WITH YOUR AWFUL PUNS!” Papyrus sighs and shakes his head, but you see a small smile on his face. “UGH, AND NOW I’VE LOST MY PLACE.” He huffs. “RIGHT. THE KITCHEN. IN THE FRIDGE IS MY FOOD MUSEUM OF SPAGHETTI. I AM BECOMING QUITE THE MASTER AT IT, WHILE SANS TRIES TO MAKE STRANGE SWEET QUICHES.”

“Um, d-do you mean a pie?” you ask gently. Sans nods from behind you.

“WHAT IS A PIE?”

“You know the stuff that Tori makes? That’s a pie,” Sans explains. You kind of thought sweet quiche was a pretty good description anyway.

“OH! BUT YOURS AREN’T ANYTHING LIKE THAT.” Papyrus looks puzzled but quickly forgets about it. “ANYWAY, TO THE BATHROOM!”

He marches on up the stairs and Sans pulls you back a bit. “Hey, just gotta let you know, monsters don’t actually need toilets. So, uh, just keep that in mind. Paps doesn’t really know what the strange thing in our bathroom is just yet…” You look at Sans, your eyes asking a million questions, but he waves you up the stairs.

“HERE IS OUR SHOWER, I FIND IT IS THE BEST WAY TO WASH MY INCREDIBLE OUTFIT.” He makes no mention of the toilet and walks straight back out again. “WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE MY ROOM NEXT?”

“Sure.”

“HERE WE ARE! THE GREAT PAPYRUS’S ROOM! OVER THERE IS MY CAR BED, THAT IS MY COMPUTER. I NEARLY HAVE A DOUBLE-DIGIT FOLLOWER COUNT! THOSE ARE MY COLLECTABLE FIGURINES, THEY ARE EXCELLENT FOR THEORETICAL BATTLE SCENARIOS. AND THAT IS A FLAG WITH A VERY COOL SKELETON ON IT.” He waits for you to have a look around, grinning proudly. “IT IS VERY NEAT, ISN’T IT?” He doesn’t wait for an answer. “WE ONLY HAVE ONE MORE ROOM LEFT AND THEN YOU CAN MEET THE GREAT MK! HE IS MY BATTLE SIDEKICK. COME ON, THE SOONER WE SEE YOUR NEW ROOM THE SOONER YOU CAN MEET HIM!” Papyrus strides out of his room confidently.

“What’s that room?” you ask, looking at the door on your right. Papyrus stops and comes back to you to look at the door with you.

“THAT’S SANS’S ROOM. IT… IT’S LIKE ANOTHER WORLD IN THERE. THE WORLD WHERE CLOTHES GO TO DIE ON THE FLOOR. IT IS A TRASH PLACE AND NO ONE BUT SANS EVER GOES IN THERE.” You have to admit, it is rather amusing how Papyrus treats clothes on the floor like the worst crime there is. He continues on and opens a door at the end of the hallway. “THIS IS YOUR ROOM.” You walk in. It’s a basic room, but it looks cozy and nicely done up for you; blankets and sheets on the bed and a few houseplants by the window. “SANS TOLD ME TO CLEAN IT UP FOR YOU. THIS IS THE FIRST TIME HE’S EVER TAKEN ANY INTEREST IN HOUSEWORK. AND IT’S TO ASK ME TO DO IT. DO YOU LIKE IT?” He looks expectantly at you. “I DIDN’T KNOW WHAT COLOUR YOU LIKED, SO I PUT EVER COLOUR BLANKET WE HAD ON THE BED.” You peak under the light blue one covering the bed. Underneath it, there’s a yellow one, and under that, there’s a purple blanket. There seems to be a ridiculous amount underneath those ones.

You look back at Papyrus. He’s watching you intently. “It’s great Papyrus, thanks,” you say with a smile. He is a bit loud, but you can see why Sans loves him so much. There’s something about him that’s just… Likeable.

“WOWIE! YOU REALLY DO? THANK YOU VERY MUCH, HUMAN!” His face is one of pure joy. “NOW YOU MUST MEET MY SIDEKICK! NYEH HEH HEH!”

Upon coming down the stairs, a small yellow… something comes running up. Just before he reaches the two of you, he trips and falls on his face. “Oh my god, are you alright??” you ask him, rushing forward to help him up.

“Heh, yeah, I just tripped. I do that ALL the time. Hi! I’m MK, which is short for Monster Kid! Papyrus said I should make a superhero name because I don’t really like the name Michael. People only use it when I’m in trouble. What’s your superhero name?”

You’re slightly taken aback by the question. “Um, what?”

Undyne comes up behind MK. “Your superhero name! Mine’s STRONG FISH! And Papyrus…”

“I AM COOL SKELETON. WHAT IS YOURS?”

“I um, I don’t have one…?” you say nervously.

Undyne sighs. “Well, I guess the pillow fight will have to wait until you have one.”

“Wait, what??”

Undyne grins at you. “The pillow fight! We all need to have superhero names so we can battle like TRUE HEROES DO!”

“Well, what’s Sans’ hero name?” you ask.

“What? He doesn’t really join in, he’s too lazy,” Undyne says dismissively.

“Heh, what if I did tonight?” Sans asks, picking up a cushion.

“SANS!! YOU REALLY MEAN IT?!” Papyrus asks. As if in answer to that question, Sans hurls the cushion at Undyne’s face. It knocks her back.

“THIS IS WAR!!” she cries. “THE WAR OF HEROES VERSUS ORDINARY!”


	11. Chapter 11

Before you have time to process what is truly happening, Undyne has picked up the cushion Sans threw and is launching herself in true anime fashion towards him. She stops mid-air in a strike position and her grin fades to an annoyed pout. “NO USING MAGIC!” she screams at Sans, who shrugs and grins.

“Two against three highly trained superheroes hardly seems fair,” he says, still holding her in the air. You realise that he’s buying you time, and so you scramble to collect all the cushions you can find in the lounge room.

Undyne huffs. “Fine, YOU can use magic, but NOT ON LIVING THINGS, GOT IT!”

Sans winks at her. “Fine by me,” he says, dropping her in a heap on the floor before lifting the couch with a huff and some sweat. You quickly go to help him, but get fwapped in the face with a pillow. Without looking to see who it was, you pick up something soft and hurl it in their direction. Your ears a met with a satisfying ‘POOF” of a pillow hitting a body. With a crunch, the couch is placed directly in front of you and Sans, marking a battle line. Without hesitation, Papyrus vaults over it, a cushion in each hand, wielding them as if they were the most deadly assault weapons. One of the cushions flies towards you and you duck, watching as Papyrus goes straight at Sans. You watch as Sans easily deflects the whirling cushion with blue magic and then thrusts a hand at you.

You freeze in confusion until you hear a muttered, “Goddammit, why did I say he could use magic?” Undyne had nearly clobbered you over the head with a pillow, but it had been ripped away from her. It was now floating just out of her reach, but not out of reach of the brilliant MK, who launches himself off the couch back, grabbing the pillow with his mouth. “NICE ONE MK!” Undyne yells as he tosses the pillow to her, still using his mouth as he… has no arms? You have no time to process before deflecting a pillow attack from your face with your arm. Scooping up another one, you try and fight back against the onslaught. You grab Undyne’s pillow and try to volley over her arms to hit her face. It brushes her gills and she rips her weapon from your hand. In the same instant, you swing the pillow with all of your might at her stomach and you manage to knock her back slightly. You hear grunts from behind you and MK’s tiny footsteps hurrying off to help Papyrus. Undyne swings hard at you and you only just manage to duck. You smack her in the back of the knees, but as it’s with a cushion, it doesn’t really do anything. She brings her pillow down over your back with another satisfying fwap sound. You scramble upright and get smacked in the face. Which hurt a lot. Undyne swings for another round but the pillow stops mid-swing and another cushion comes flying straight at her face. Undyne goes straight down with a rather loud crash. “STRONG FISH DOWN!” she cries and doesn’t get back up.

You rush over. “Are you ok?!” you ask, concerned for her safety.

“Yeah, I’m fine, this is just the rules of the fight. You get knocked down completely, you don’t get back up.” She looks confused that she had to explain that, but she goes back to playing dead.

“_____! Over here!!” Sans calls. He’s sweating profusely, still deflecting his brother’s vicious attacks with magic. You pick up a couple of cushions and jog over. You swing from behind, but Papyrus dodges effortlessly. You swing it straight back and this time it makes contact. He hadn’t noticed you until now. Papyrus turns his attack on you, but he slows down a lot for you. Still a lot of hits though. He swings at your chest and hits with a nice ploof. You grab at one of the two swinging cushions and rip it from his grasp, throwing your old one to Sans who has finished recovering... mostly. MK throws Papyrus another one and Sans scoots up behind and gives Papyrus a good ol’ bap with a pillow over the head. The room is silent except for the baps and fwoops of the pillows, hitting and missing their targets. Dodging and swinging blindly, you start to drive Papyrus back into the couch, Sans coming in from the other side, throwing more cushions along with a few plush toys at Papyrus’s chest with magic. Papyrus hardly realises he’s moving backwards, trying to focus on two enemies at once. You feel a small bump of a pillow from behind you and see Monster Kid trying to help Papyrus. You humour him and step away from the Papyrus fight. “_____!” Sans calls in dismay. In your distraction at your name being called, you swing a little too hard.

MK goes flying across the room to land next to Undyne. “Aw man! She’s really strong!” he calls. Knowing he’s ok makes you feel a little better about launching him like that.

“Play dead!” You hear Undyne hiss at him. He makes a dramatic choking sound and then stops completely.

You hardly notice as you go back to join Sans, swinging wildly and deflecting Papyrus as best you can, grabbing one of his cushions and throwing it backwards. “NYEH!” he cries is slight dismay. His feet are nearly back against the couch now. Sans’ eyes are black, no white in them and you’re just trying to stay on your feet as Papyrus takes his swings up a notch. When it hits you in the side, you struggle to stay standing up. The pillows meet mid-swing and burst. Stuffing goes everywhere. In the moment of chaos, Sans launches one last cushion and it hits Papyrus smack in the face. He topples over the back of the couch which is now covered in stuffing. “NYOO HOO HOO!” he cries. Sans huffs out a sigh and then collapses on the ground, asleep. You bend over, catching your breath.

Undyne gets up. “That. Was. AWESOME!” she cries. “Sans! Where did you learn to- oh. He’s asleep already.” She looks down at the lump of hoodie on the floor in disappointment.

Papyrus’s head pops back up from the couch. “HE DID A VERY GOOD JOB. IF HE WASN’T SO LAZY, HE MIGHT BECOME AS GREAT AS I!”

“He beat you Papyrus.”

Papyrus huffs. “YES, BUT THAT IS ONLY BECAUSE HE HAD THE HELP OF THE BRILLIANT _____! IF IT HAD JUST BEEN HIM, I WOULD’VE WON!”

“Heh! You guys did awesome!” MK calls from behind you. “_____, you were so cool! Undyne wasn’t even able to knock you down!” You turn around and see the young monster looking up in awe at you. “She knocks EVERYONE down!”

“...s’true…” murmurs the mound on the floor. You turn around, expecting Sans to be sitting up.

Papyrus tuts. “HE TALKS IN HIS SLEEP AS IF HE KNOWS WHAT IS GOING ON,” he says, shaking his head at his brother. “REALLY, HE’S SO LAZY.”

Sans’ eyes blink open slightly. “...‘m not lazy…” he murmurs, rubbing his eye sockets. “You’re just super good bro.” Papyrus blushes, but takes the praise with only a small huff.

“Well that wasn’t a long nap,” Undyne calls.

“Huh?” Sans looks confused. “I- I was asleep?”

You chuckle slightly. “Y-yeah, you definitely were.”

Sans sits on the floor in disbelief. “Huh. That wore me out.” He shakes his head to clear the sleep from it. “Anyway, what are we doing next, bro?” He turns to you and quickly adds, “If _____ wants to join in, that is.”

You shrug. You just won a pillow fight, you may as well continue. “Sure. I don’t think I’ve smiled this much since I was a-.”

“-young boy, when your father took you in-?”

“To the city to see a marching band?” You finish Sans’ joke, rolling your eyes and smiling slightly. You look over at him and he grins.

“BUT THEY ARE A GIRL SANS! WHY WOULD YOU SAY THAT??”

“Heh, just a joke bro, don’t worry. But what’s next?”

Undyne jumps to her feet. “BLANKET FORT AND HOT CHOCOLATE!” she cries out as if it were a battle cry.

Papyrus taps his fingers together nervously. “UM, _____, WE WILL HAVE TO, UH, UN-MAKE YOUR BED. I USED ALL OF THE BLANKETS ON IT.”

You giggle slightly. “Sure, we can do that.”

“Dude, how many blankets did you put on _____’s bed?” Undyne asks curiously.

“UMMMM….” Papyrus sweats. “24.”

MK looks up in awe. “I can’t even count that high…”

Papyrus looks affronted. “NYEH! OF COURSE YOU CAN! WE COUNTED TO 30 YESTERDAY!”

“Yeah yeah, I’ll get the blankets,” Undyne grumbles, taking off up the stairs.

“And while she’s doin’ that, I’ll get the drinks,” Sans says with a wink, getting up and shuffling to the kitchen.

“WELL THEN! YOU AND I SHALL GET TO MOVING FURNITURE!!” Papyrus calls to you. “SANS WHY DID YOU HAVE TO MOVE THE COUCH?! IT WAS PERFECT WHERE IT WAS.”

“I’m sorry bro, I just needed a… Barri-couch.”

Papyrus’s once joyous face immediately turns into a frown. “SANS I HATE YOU AND YOUR TERRIBLE PUNS.”

“Nah, you love me.”

Papyrus grumbles as he lifts the entire couch with one arm. “Woah, what the fff-” You look at MK over your shoulder who is listening intently to you. “.... How?” you finish lamely.

Sans grins at your slip up. “Eh, he’s been training for a while. That’s a piece of cake to him. Speaking of which...” He reaches for the wrapped pieces of pie on the bench. “Tori sends her love in the form of pie.”

“THAT IS VERY SWEET OF HER,” Papyrus says, putting the couch down in the ideal position. He freezes. “WAIT, I DIDN’T- NOOOOOO!” he cries, while Sans looks at him in glee.

Undyne comes down from the stairs, carrying a lot of blankets. “What the hell happened while I was gone?”

“I think he just made a pun,” you explain.

“Ah. That would explain Sans. Yeah, Papyrus hates puns.”

“I figured,” you say, gesturing to him, doubled over on the floor.

Undyne sighs. “Now are we going to build this EPIC fort or not?!”  
  


Ten minutes later and a haphazard fortress covers the living room. “NOW THIS, THIS IS A FORT RIGHT HERE!” Undyne proclaims proudly from the outside. You, MK and Sans are all huddled on the inside. Pegs and safety pins hold thick blankets together.

“This is the coolest!” MK cries. “I wish I could do this all the time!”

“Heh, well kid, it gets better, we got some hot chocolate to drink,” Sans says, passing around the drinks as Undyne and Papyrus make their way in.

“Thanks,” you murmur as he passes one to you.

“SO _____, WHO ARE YOU?” Papyrus asks.

“I’m sorry what?”

“WHO A-”

“He means like, what do you like, how old are you, where do you come from, that sort of thing,” Undyne clarifies. You see Sans glance at you from the corner of your eye.

“Uhhh…” You swallow hard. “It’s um… I mean, w-well, I’m _____, I’m 22 years ol-”

“HEY! THAT’S HOW OLD SANS IS! …. I THINK.”

Sans shrugs. “Eh, bro, we don’t really know, but yeah, from when we started counting…”

“Cool! So what do you like to do?!” Undyne asks enthusiastically.

So they didn’t want to know about your family. Or why you were here. Or how you were here. “Uh, well, I like reading…”

“Oh Tori’s a HUUUUGE reader, you two’ll be great!!” Undyne proclaims. “Anything else?”

“Y-yeah? I like cookin-”

“COOKING!!!!” Papyrus, Undyne and MK all yell, making you jump and nearly spill your drink.

“COOKING IS SO COOL IT-”

“FLAMES AND FIREY DEA-”

“COOKING IS THE ABSOLUTE GREATEST-”

“SPAGHETTI!”

You look around at the three of them all talking over each other. “Guys!” Sans calls. Papyrus stops and MK does when he hears Papyrus shut up.

Undyne stops in surprise and looks at him weirdly. “What’s got into you today? You’re acting weird.”

Sans looks slightly flustered. “Hey, I mean, _____ is the first human on the surface to meet us, I want her to have a good time living here. Besides, I kinda owe it to her, I nearly killed her.”

“WHAT?!” The yell again came from Papyrus, Undyne and MK.

“It wasn’t thaaat bad,” you quickly assure them. “His uh…”

“Teleporting,” Sans supplies the word through his fingers, and he covers his face with his hands.

“Teleporting made me feel sick, it’s all ok.”

“Right,” Undyne says, looking sideways at Sans. “I’m so gonna have to talk with Alphys about this.”

You clear your throat. “So uh, well, I don’t really know much about you guys… Sooo…”

“You want us to talk about ourselves?” Sans asks, looking at you through his fingers.

“Y-yeah?”

He raises his head and grins slightly. “Well. I’m Sans. Sans the Skeleton.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the abrupt ending, but it was starting to ramble and become a huge chapter so... Yeah. Enjoy some sleepover shenanigans! Also, no, Sans isn't head over heels, he's just super nervous about everything that's going on 😅 Honestly, I don't blame him.


	12. Chapter 12

You roll your eyes. “Yes, I kn-”

“AND I AM THE GRRREAT PAPYRUS!” He cuts in over the top of your sarcastic quip.

“And I’m Undyne!”

“And I’m MK!”

You sigh, taking another sip of hot chocolate. “Yeah, I know your names, but like… Well, who are you?” you say, realising exactly why Papyrus asked the vague question; there wasn’t really a better way of wording it.

“Ohhh, ok! Well I’ll go first!” Undyne cries. “I’m Undyne, I’m 23 and I’m the oldest here. I’m the captain of the royal guard, so double respect, punk!” she teases with a grin. “I am the strongest fish that ever lived! I can bench-press like, 6 children!”

“I BELIEVE IT WAS SEVEN, UNDYNE,” Papyrus jumps in.

“OH! Yeah, 7 then. I looooooove cooking, I think Anime is the COOLEST and I also play the piano. And I have a girlfriend, her name is Alphys.” She finishes with a grin.

“Ook, so uh, I’ve been hearing a lot about Alphys, who’s she?” you ask. “Other than your girlfriend, that is…”

“Well, she’s the royal scientist. Super smart girl, but uh, kinda a bit like you, _____,” Sans says. “She’s nervous and stuttery.”

“Not once you really get to know her!” Undyne says. Her eyes light up; she really loves her. “She’s a huuuuuuge anime nerd! She got me into Anime in the first place, she loves this show called Mew Mew Kissy Cutie and it’s super cool! She like, totally converted me to it! She’s also like, suuuper smart. She made a robot with a monster soul!! He’s….” Her face changes from happy to pursed lips. “He’s a bit strange.”

“OH! METTATON?!” Papyrus pipes up. “I LOVE HIS SHOWS ON TV! HE IS INCREDIBLE!”

“Prick…” Undyne mutters between a cough. You smile slightly at her, having heard what she said anyway.

“HE IS THE MOST FAMOUS OF ALL MONSTERS!!”

“Yeah, ok bro, but she wants to know about you. You know, the greatest of all monsters,” Sans says with a grin.

“OH! RIGHT, OF COURSE YOU WOULD WANT TO HEAR ABOUT THE GREAT PAPYRUS, GOOD HUMAN! AHEM. WELL.” He straightens up. “I AM VERY GREAT AND I MAKE THE BEST PUZZLES! I ALSO MAKE THE BEST SPAGHETTI AND THE VERY BEST FRIEND!”

“And brother,” Sans says with a wink.

“DON’T INTERRUPT ME!” Papyrus tries to sound annoyed, but you can see the happiness in his eyes. “WHERE WAS I. OH YES, I MAKE THE BEST PASTA AND I’M PART OF THE ROYAL GUARD NOW!! THOUGH, ALL WE DO IS MOVE THINGS UP FROM UNDERGROUND, SO IT IS SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT. BUT! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS WILL GIVE IT ONE HUNDRED AND TEN PERCENT OF MY ENERGY!” He turns to look at Sans. “WAS THAT GOOD, BROTHER?”

Sans chuckles. “Yeah, it was. He’s well, we think he’s twenty. We don’t really know. We just kinda… Decided to give ourselves ages. Made us less weird.”

“Umm, do skeletons not have ages or something? Like, you don’t start counting from when you, uh, die?” you ask hesitantly.

Papyrus looks horrified while Sans just chuckles. “Nah, you’re thinking of _human_ skeletons, we’re monster skeletons. There’s a… skele-tonne of differences.” He winks and Papyrus huffs.

You just sit there, taking all of this in. “Is it my turn?!” a small voice pipes up. You’d almost forgotten about MK.

“Yeah, punk! Tell _____ about yourself!”

“I’m MK! Some people call me Michael, but I…” He pulls a face. “I don’t really like that name. I like playing superheroes. It’s so cool! I also really like soccer and now I like ballet too! Cooking is the coolest though! It’s like superheroes, but better!! And, we get to eat after it! It’s so cool!”

You smile at him. “How old are you?”

He smiles proudly up at you. “I’m 6!”

“Do you have any brothers or sisters?” you ask.

“Yeah, I do have one sister. She’s pretty mean though… But that’s why I hang with Papyrus! He’s like a super cool big brother!”

Papyrus gasps and grins. “REALLY?! WOWIE!!”

“Yeah, you’re like everyone’s cool bro,” Sans says with a grin.

“YEAH! Come here, punk!” Undyne calls as she grabs him in a loose headlock, rubbing his head with her knuckles.

“PLEASE DON’T NOOGIE THE SKELETON.” You laugh. He said it so calmly and pitifully.

“So… Sans, what about you?” you ask.

He jolts slightly, not expecting it. “What? Oh, heh, me? Not much is interesting about me,” he grins. “But… I guess if you really wanna know… I do have one secret.” He winks. The others haven’t heard anything as they enjoy their noogies. He suddenly pulls a straight, deadpan face. “I’m really a secret agent for the mafia.” You chuckle nervously. He sighs. “Well _____, I didn’t want it to have to come to this, but you know too much now. I’m going to have to kill you. Does tomorrow afternoon work for you?” he says.

“No serial killer asks when people are free to murder them. You’re a bad liar,” you say, just as seriously. You stare each other down for a moment, seeing who will break first. Suddenly, much to the surprise of Papyrus, Undyne and MK, the two of you burst into a hard fit of laughter.

“WHAT’S SO FUNNY?” Papyrus asks curiously.

“Yeah, what’d we miss?!” Undyne calls, finally letting go of Papyrus and MK.

Sans is the first to recover enough to talk. “Ah, I just… I- Never mind, it isn’t really that funny.”

“It obviously is to you two. Tell.”

“He’d have to kill you,” you say, finally managing to suppress the giggles. You can’t help but crack a smile.

“Spill,” Undyne demands.

Sans sighs dramatically. “Very well. _____ asked about me and so I told her my secret.” He looks off into the distance. Well, the walls of the blanket fort. “I am a spy for the mafia.”

“No!!” Undyne cries, in rapt awe and disbelief. “That’s so COOL!”

You look slightly confused. “Uhh, Undyne, he’s joking…”

She frowns to herself. “Oh right, I knew that, of course.”

“SHE BELIEVED ANIME WAS REAL,” Papyrus hisses between his teeth to you.

Undyne’s eyes widen. “YOU SWORE YOU’D NEVER TELL!!” She pauses. “Wait, no… That was Frisk who said that…… They were the only one that knew!! FRISK I WILL KILL YOU!!” she cries.

You giggle nervously. “Um, ok then. Frisk is nice though, so maybe don’t kill… them,” you say, not remembering if Frisk is a boy or girl.

“Yo _____, you’ve met Frisk?! They’re so cool! They’re like, my best friend!” MK’s eyes widen. “They got me to start doing ballet with them! It’s really pretty!”

“Heh, I can’t dance. You know why?” Sans asks you. You raise an eyebrow in question. “Cuz I ain’t got noBODY to dance with,” he says with a grin.

“SANS!!” Papyrus yells disapprovingly.

You sigh. “That was a bad one. Anyway, back to the actual question, what do you like to do? The, uh, who are you question.”

“So you don’t believe I’m a mafia agent?”

“Not in the slightest,” you grin.

He sighs. “Damn. Welp, I guess I got another secret.”

You roll your eyes. “WHAT IS IT SANS?!” Papyrus asks excitedly.

“I’m a skeleton.”

“THAT’S NOT A SECRET SANS!!” Papyrus huffs.

Sans gasps. “How did you know already?!”

You chuckle and shake your head. “Just answer the actual question man.”

“Alright, alright,” Sans says, putting up his hands in defeat. “The name’s Sans, I’m approximately 22 and I love ketchup.”

“He really does,” Undyne says. “He drinks it straight like it’s tea.”

“IT’S GROSS AND UNHYGIENIC.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever…” Sans huffs, folding his arms. “I also love puns, sleeping and science.”

“You like science?” Undyne asks in disbelief.

“Yeah, I like science. What about it?”

“Then why didn’t you, like, work in the lab?” Undyne asks.

“Eh, those amalgamate things really chill me to my bones,” he says with a wink. You listen curiously. He seems to be deflecting with humour. Also…

“What are amalgamates?” you ask. “I heard Toriel mention something about them.”

Sans freezes and Papyrus and Undyne look at each other at a loss for words. MK looks as confused as you feel. “Well, you’ll find out tomorrow,” Sans finally says. “Speaking of which, we might wanna turn in soon. You’ve got school tomorrow kid, and we,” he says, turning to you. “Have to get up early.”

“WHY ON EARTH IS THAT?! YOU NEVER GET UP EARLY SANS!” Papyrus cries excitedly.

“Yeah, why?" Undyne asks.

“To head back Underground.”


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quick note, there is an allusion to self-harm. Please seek help if you have the urge to do so yourself, it is not a healthy or good coping mechanism. There are plenty of better ones out there. Otherwise, enjoy!

“I’m coming!” all three of them yell.

Sans chuckles. “Not you, kiddo, Undyne and Papyrus are lookin’ after you and Frisk is coming over too.” MK huffs and glares up at Sans. If he had arms, they would have been crossed, you can tell just by looking at him.

“Oh yeah, I can’t come either actually…” Undyne says with a sigh. “Tori has me taking over the school while she’s gone.” Undyne looks pretty down after remembering that. “Damnit, I was hoping to see Alphys before the end of the week.”

“So Alphys is underground?” you ask, confused.

Undyne grins. “Yeah, a lizard monster that hates the sun, go figure, right?”

You chuckle a little. “I, HOWEVER, AM STILL COMING!” Papyrus chimes in. “FOR I MUST MOVE MORE THINGS! MORE BRICKS MUST SEE THE SUN!”

Sans grins. “Well bro, I guess we better head off to bed then. If you guys, uh, wanna sleep down here, you’ll have to grab the sleeping bags from Pap’s room.” He turns to you. “I guess I better take you up to yours though.” He sighs. “Teleporting would be so much easier though…” he says longingly as you all start to crawl your way out of the cubby.

“THAT’S OFF LIMITS SANS!! YOU SAID SHE MIGHT DIE!!!” Papyrus calls in horror.

You chuckle and Sans sighs. “Yeah, yeah, I know,” he says, finally reaching the end of the cubby and crawling up the stairs. He straightens himself up to help you to your feet. “So… First night here, huh _____?” He pauses for a moment to let the other three pass into Papyrus’s room, chatting loudly. “You are staying for a while here, right?” he asks after they disappear behind the door.

“Uh, w-well, only if you’ll have me…” you say softly.

Sans smiles again. “Course we’ll keep ya, I meant staying around the, uh, monster village.”

“Oh…” you think for a moment. “I… I don’t really know.” You shrug. “Not many places I can go really,” you say as lightheartedly as possible. Sans looks at you curiously.

The door to Papyrus’s room swings open and the three monsters look over to you and Sans. “GOOD NIGHT _____, GOOD NIGHT BROTHER. IS THERE AN EARLIER TIME YOU WOULD LIKE ME TO WAKE YOU UP?” Papyrus asks, clearly excited that Sans was taking initiative for once.

Sans grins. “Yeah, five minutes later.”

“THAT IS NOT WHAT I SAID AND BECAUSE YOU SAID IT, I SHALL WAKE YOU FIVE MINUTES EARLIER. JAPED AGAIN! NYEH HEH HEH!”

Undyne gives you a big grin from behind Papyrus. “Great meeting ya punk! I’ll see you around, maybe for some cooking! G’night you two!” She heads downstairs with Papyrus.

MK looks at you. “Heh, you were super cool tonight _____! I dunno why humans and monsters didn’t get along, you’re awesome! Good night!” He trots off to the stairs, almost tripping, but luckily catching himself so he didn’t tumble down.

“Good night to you all…” You call after them. You turn around to find Sans still gazing at you curiously. “Is- is everything alright?” you ask.

“Hmm? Yeah, yeah, everything’s fine,” he says, still staring at you intently. “Would you mind if we had a quick talk? Don’t worry, you don’t have to answer anything, ok, I just, uh, wanna know that my bro is safe with you.”

_Oh f*ck, he’s gonna kick you out and you’ll have nowhere to go and he thinks you’ll murder him in his sleep run, just run and go back to the mountainside and-_

_CALM DOWN._

_Breathe._

_In._

_Out._

_My name is _____, I’m 22 years o-_

“Uh _____? You ok?” You snap out of your calming mechanism to find him still staring, but worried now instead.

“Yeah yeah, I’m fine, sure we can talk,” you say, your words spilling out over one another.

_Great. Now he thinks you’re a psycho too. Well done. F*cking moron._

“Ok…” he says slowly. “Wanna head into your room or…?”

You shake your head slightly, betraying your thoughts. “S-sure.”

He walks over and opens your door and ushers you in, flicking the light on as he shuts the door behind him. You perch awkwardly on the edge of the bed. “Just remember, you don’t have to answer anything if it makes ya feel uncomfortable or anything.” You nod and stare into your hands. Sans sighs and hops up on the bed, flopping himself comfortably on the- well, your pillows. “So… When I found ya, what’d ya think of me?”

You shrug stiffly. “I dunno, it…”

“Hmm?”

“W-well, you terrified me. The book I was reading, I had been told it was t-true and w-well, the mountain was real and then you turned up so monsters were real too and monsters are always scary in human folklore and so I… I thought you would kill me.”

Sans chuckles slightly. “Heh, not a chance. No reason to and I’m lazy. Do we wanna take turns askin’ questions, or am I just gonna rapid-fire?”

You shrug your shoulders again. “Up to you,” you murmur.

Sans thinks for a moment. “Welp, if you have a question, ask it. Can’t guarantee that I’ll answer though.” He pauses. “Are you dangerous?”

You look over at him now, confused. “I’m sorry, what?”

“Are you dangerous?” he asks, picking up a pencil with his magic and flipping it over and over in the air. He watches it and his fingers mimic the action used to do it.

“Y-you think I’m dangerous?” you ask slowly.

He catches the pencil, sitting up. “I don’t think so, but looks can be deceiving.” He looks you dead in the eye. “Are you dangerous?”

“N-no.” You shake your head feeling scared and confused.

He relaxes back onto the pillows again. “Do you know how to use a knife?”

“For cooking or…?”

Sans smirks slightly to himself. “Not cooking.”

“N-no! Wha- what do you think I am?”

Sans looks at you carefully. “A human.”

“I am! B-but humans can be nice,” you murmur.

He goes back to flipping the pencil in the air. “Oh, I know that. I’m just making sure you are.” He shuts his eyes and catches the pencil. “Will you hurt Papyrus?” he asks slowly.

“Why would I do that?”

Sans opens his eyes. They’re pitch black. “T h a t ’ s n o t a n a n s w e r h u m a n.”

You freeze, trembling. “I wouldn’t, that’s awful!” you cry.

Sans breathes a sigh of relief. “Ok.” His voice has changed back to its usual cadence. “Sorry for scaring ya there, _____, I don’t particularly like threatening people.”

You chuckle slightly nervously. “Now I’m starting to rethink whether you might be in the mafia.”

He laughs. “Nah, you’re safe. I’m too lazy for that anyway. I do have a few more questions though…”

_Oh no, he’s going to ask why you’re here…_

You hide your fear, biting your lip and look into your hands again, tracing your fingers over faint scars from… You force your mind to ignore it. You know if you start thinking about it you get transported there again. “Ok then.”

“Why’d you go to the mountain?” he asks softly. “You must’ve known the legend. It was all through that book.”

You make a sound in the back of your throat like a muffled squeak. You don’t want to answer, but something screams that you always must answer. You aren’t sure what until...

_“ANSWER ME WHEN I ASK YOU A QUESTION, BITCH!”_

You gasp and look around, scared. Todd can’t be here. The sound of a slap echoes around your head. Sans looks at you, concerned. “Are you ok _____?” he asks softly.

You slow your breathing and heart-rate down. It was just a stupid memory. “Yeah, sorry, I thought I heard something, that’s all.”

Sans nods slowly. He can tell something’s up. “Probably the guys downstairs. So… I take it you don’t want to answer the question?”

You bite your lip. “I… I don’t know, I…” You swallow hard. “I wanted to disappear.”

Sans nods again. “I get that. Would I be pushing to ask why?” You tense up immediately. “I’ll take that as a yes.” He sighs slightly and gets up off of your bed. “Welp, good talk _____. Same time tomorrow?” he asks jokingly.

“Yes please…” you murmur softly. You fight the urge to clap a hand over your mouth. Why did you say that?! You hate talking about these sort of things!

He looks back at you, slightly bewildered, eyebrows raised. “Huh.” He pauses, watching you again. You force yourself not to curl up and hide. He probably doesn’t want to deal with your nonsense... “Guess I can do that,” he says with a smile. “Never really had someone who might get me.” He shrugs. “Almost a shame to cut it short now, but the sun is well and truly down and we need to get up early tomorrow. Good night _____, sleep well.”

“Good night Sans,” you murmur.

“See ya tomorrow,” he says with a slight grin, turning your light off and heading out.


	14. Chapter 14

“SANS GET YOUR LAZYBONES OUT OF BED!”

Your eyes fly open in shock. You find yourself looking at a wall that isn’t yours. And on a bed that is a lot more comfortable than that yoga mat that you should be on. “Wha-?” you mumble sleepily. And then it hits you. You remember, meeting that posh man on the doorstep, running in the rain, meeting Sans and… You realise where you are now. Sans’s house. Suddenly, the door flings open.

“_____! IT IS TIME FOR YOU TO WAKE UP N- OH! I SEE YOU ARE ALREADY AWAKE. WELL THEN. BREAKFAST IS IN THE POT!” Breakfast in a pot? Papyrus flings open the curtains. The light hits your face like a brick. You groan and crawl back under the covers. “OH. SO YOU’RE LIKE SANS.” Papyrus huffs a disappointed sigh. “PLEASE. BE DOWNSTAIRS SOON.” You mumble in response, your ears ringing. You slowly peel the covers back and look down at yourself, blinking. You’re still wearing the same clothes from yesterday. That’s going to be a problem, not having different clothes. You manage to force your feet to hit the floor and you stand up and stretch. You look out the window; the sky is overcast and grey, but somehow the light still hurts your sleepy eyes. You shuffle your way to the door and plod along the unfamiliar corridor. A door halfway down the hallway opens and out trudges a sleepy-looking Sans, with a slightly different tee on and the same hoodie and pants.

He looks at you sleepily. “Hey there _____. Ready to see where we were trapped for 300 years?”

“Don’t talk to me in the mornings,” you yawn.

Sans laughs. “I see you are a true morning person, like myself. Papyrus is making spaghetti, but you can have cereal if you like.”

“Spaghetti for breakfast??” you ask, bewildered.

He chuckles. “Yeah. He loves spaghetti.”

“I used to make spaghetti for-” You catch yourself. “For a friend.” Why are you slipping up like this?? No one needs to know that.

He grins. “I bet it wasn’t for breakfast.”

“You’re right there…” you murmur, trotting downstairs.

“AH! GOOD MORNING HUMAN! I SEE YOU ARE ALREADY DRESSED AND READY FOR THE DAY!”

“So am I!” Sans complains. “Where’s my praise?” he teases.

Papyrus huffs. “YES YES, I WAS GETTING TO THAT. UNDYNE AND MK ALREADY LEFT BECAUSE UNDYNE NEEDED TO GO EARLY TO SET UP THE SCHOOL. WOULD YOU LIKE SOME OF MY WORLD FAMOUS PASTA FOR BREAKFAST?”

You smile slightly nervously. “Uhhh, no thanks, maybe for dinner though?” you suggest, hoping to make up for not having it now.

“THAT CAN BE ARRANGED!! NYEH HEH HEH! WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE THEN? SANS HAS THESE CONFOUNDED THINGS HE CALLS… COCO PUFFS. WOULD YOU LIKE SOME OF THOSE??”

“Oh, I know those, I haven’t had them since I was a kid!” you exclaim. They used to be a real treat for you and your sister.

Sans grins at you. “Eh, I like ‘em. No reason to give ‘em up just cuz you got older.” He starts pouring two bowls for you and him both.

“Oh, I didn’t stop eating them until I moved out of the house…” you say, hoping to sound vague enough.

“How long ago was that?” Sans asks curiously, pouring milk into one and… ketchup on the other. He sees you watching him in horror and he grins. “What, not a fan of ketchup?”

“N-no, I don’t mind ketchup, but what the f*ck?!” Sans looks over to Papyrus quickly and breathes a sigh of relief that he didn’t hear you. You feel slightly guilty. “Oh, am I not supposed to swear around Papyrus?” you whisper.

Sans nods. “Yeah, if it’s just us, sure, but not Paps.”

“Sorry,” you murmur, turning away with your bowl, refusing to watch Sans eat Coco Puffs with ketchup instead of milk. “Where do you want me to put the bowl when I’m finished?” you ask, after a few spoonfuls.

Sans shrugs. Papyrus calls, “PUT IT IN THE SINK!”

You munch on the cereal of your childhood in a bewildered manner, looking at the height of the sink. “How?”

“MAG- OH. RIGHT. I FORGOT. HUMANS DON’T HAVE MAGIC.”

“I’ll take that for you,” Sans murmurs, noticing you’d finished and sweeps them both up to the sink with his own magic. He checks the time on his watch. “Welp. We best start walking. I ain’t the speed demon Paps is and you look sleepy. Let’s go _____.” He walks over to the door and opens it. “Great. Rain.” Sans sighs and ducks around the corner of the lounge room. “We only got one umbrella.”

You step outside. “It’s not raining that hard…” you say. “Did it rain underground?”

Sans steps out after you to the sound of Papyrus crying out his goodbyes. “Ehh, kinda. It was actually condensation falling from the roof. Anyway,” he says, opening the umbrella, “I don’t really get affected by rain. It rolls right off the skull.” He stands in front of you, holding the umbrella over your head. “You humans, on the other hand, catch colds and stuff,” he teases, making you take the umbrella. “It’ll also wake me up.”

“Don’t… I feel bad that you’re getting wet and I’m not…” you mumble, walking along behind him by a few paces.

He shrugs. “Eh, don’t be. Eventually, we’ll get a big enough umbrella for all three of us,” he jokes, clearly thinking of Papyrus. “Besides, we got a little way to go yet and my clothes will dry.”

“So will mine…” you mutter, catching up and walking side by side with him. The rain patters on his skull.

“Yes, but I’ve already had a scare with you being sick, we don’t need that again,” he says in a lighthearted, but… slightly stern way. You walk in silence for a bit until he sighs. “I suppose I should warn you about what’s gonna happen down there.”

You nod. “Yeah, that might be helpful.”

“Well, you’ll meet Alphys and her…. Friends.” Sans grimaces slightly. “They, uh, aren’t exactly like the rest of the monsters you’ve seen. They… Well, they’re harmless enough, they won’t kill ya, but uh… They’re probably more like your human monsters.” You shudder. “Anyways, after that, we’ll have a bit of a meeting, mainly about that book you had.” You bite your lip. “How’d you come by that book anyway?”

“A… Friend gave it to me,” you mumble.

“Right… So, is it sentimental?” Sans asks nonchalantly. You think on that for a moment. Is it sentimental? You only knew Fran for a week, but she was all you had for that week when you knew nobody.

_And you treated her like garbage, running like a coward and not even saying goodbye._

_Was there another way?_

“_____?”

“Huh? Oh, uh… S-sentimental? Uhm, y-yeah, kinda. It’s uh, the only thing I have left from her really.”

“Ok. I’ll see that you get it back. Just, keep it outta sight, mmk? I don’t want Papyrus getting upset about it.” Sans chuckles listlessly. “Knowing him, he’ll cry if he reads it.”

“Ok, I can do that.” You both stop short. There’s a large cave, a massive fissure in the surface of the mountain.

“Here we are _____. That’s where the barrier broke. Wasn’t even a whole year ago. It was, what, about 7 months now?” He shakes his head sadly. “Either way, we’re going back down there.” He looks to you. “Ready?”

You peer into the large chasm. It’s dark and frankly quite spooky. “Are we, you know, meeting them down there, or do we wait for them up here?”

Sans checks his watch. “Well, we’re a bit late so they might’ve already gone down.” He shrugs. “I can call them if you like?” He pulls out the flip phone.

“W-well, um, if it wouldn’t be too much of a bother.”

“Oh! Never mind, they were later than we were.” Sans gestures over to the king and queen huddled very sweetly together under the one umbrella.

“I see why you didn’t want to share now,” you tease slightly.

Sans chuckles and waves to the two of them. “Hey Tori, Asgore!”

Toriel points at the two of you and she and her husband come trotting over. “Hello again _____, it’s so good to see you!” She pulls you into a hug. She’s warm and soft and smells of lavender. It is rather hard to hug her back with an umbrella in your hand, but she doesn’t seem to mind. “Hello Sans! Do you have any good puns for me today?” she says with a grin.

Sans chuckles. “Well, I’m sure I could come up with a few rib-ticklers,” he says with a wink. Toriel giggles and Asgore chuckles deeply as well.

“Well then, Sans, _____, shall we head back underground?”

“You read my mind, let’s go,” Sans says, looking at you carefully. You guess you must’ve looked ok with that decision because he heads straight into the darkness. “Come on _____!”

“O-ok…” you murmur, shutting the umbrella and taking tentative steps into the black cavern. You blink a bit and your eyes slowly adapt.

“Man. I’d forgotten how dark it was down here. It’s always so bright on the surface,” Sans says, his voice echoing around the place.

“Yes. It is rather dull down here,” the king says solemnly. You just make out the outline of Toriel placing her hand on his shoulder comfortingly. A blue light fizzes up directly in front of you and you jump back slightly. You hadn’t realised how close you were to Sans.

He chuckles. “Still not used to magic, huh?” he says, waving his glowing hand in front of you. You shake your head, even though that wasn’t the only thing that made you jump. “Eh, you’ll get used to it. Eventually.” He turns around and starts walking. You follow. “The lab’s a little way away, unless the elevators are working.”

“They should be, I requested they be kept operational for times like this, even though the reroute of core power is under effect,” Asgore says from behind you.

“Good,” calls Sans, ignoring everything to do with whatever the 'core power' is. “Cuz I hate walking.”

“But when I first met you, you were walking…” you mumble. You don’t particularly like this strange bluey darkness that surrounds you. You aren’t really sure anyone would like it.

“Shhhh,” Sans teases. “See that light in the distance?”

“The eerie, blinking red one?” you ask.

“Yeah, that one. That’s the elevator we’re taking. All the way down to the bottom.” He turns around to see you probably looking as scared as you feel. He hold out his not-blue hand and you take it, feeling slightly more secure now. “It’s ok, I’m here. Now… Are you ready?”


	15. Chapter 15

You nod stiffly, not really ready but determined to look like you are. “Good,” Sans says, still holding your hand. “Let’s go then.” He quickens his pace slightly and you reach the elevator a few paces before Asgore and Toriel. Sans presses the elevator button and the doors slide open immediately. Hardly anyone must come down here. You all crowd in together.

You jump, feeling Toriel’s hand on your shoulder. “Listen, dear, I feel like I must warn you before we get out. We are going down to meet a good friend of ours, the royal scientist Alphys. Her lab is… Well, it’s a little bit spooky,” she says softly. You murmur a noise of assent. “And her… companions aren’t exactly… Normal.”

“Sans said as much last night,” you murmur.

“Oh!” Toriel exclaims in relief. “Then I guess I needn’t say it all again.”

“Wait, he didn-”

“Here we are,” Asgore’s voice rumbles from the front of the elevator. It’s doors retract and a dim light floods the tiny space you’re all wedged into. The hair on the back of your neck stands up and you just feel… Uncomfortable. “Alphys?!” Asgore calls out into the corridor.

“C-coming your majesty!” a timid voice replies. “I-I’ve g-got Endogeny with me!” A little lizard wearing glasses and a lab coat runs around the corner. “O-oh! There’s- there’s more of you!” she stammers nervously. You hardly notice. Your eyes are locked on the dripping white… Thing that’s bounding directly at you. It’s huge and sprinting on all six of its legs, hurling its oozing body at you. You scream. The monsters around you cover their ears.

“Geez _____, you can scream can’t you?” Sans yelps, rubbing the side of his skull where his ears would be. The white slime creature stops short of you by a pace or two, confused by your scream. Its head tilts to the side as if trying to comprehend what just happened.

“I thought she said you told her about them!” Toriel hissed at Sans as you continue to stare into its… Well, the hole in its head which you can only assume is a mouth. You can hear its ragged breathing as you press your back against the elevator doors.

“H-hey!” the lizard cries out, grabbing the thing’s attention. “N-no fighting!” Its head moves in what you assume is a nod. “O-o-ok, uh… h-human, j-just reach forwards and p-pet it.”

You finally break your gaze away from the thing, looking to who you can only assume is Alphys. “Pet it?!”

“Y-yes, pet it!” You grit your teeth and stick your hand out to the thing. It moves fluidly towards you and it glorps onto your hand.

You flinch back and nearly scream again, Sans’ hands flying to his skull in preparation, but you manage not to, moving your hand up and down its… head. “G-g-good… Monster…” you say hesitantly. It squelches back at you. You shudder slightly, withdrawing your hand, but it comes closer to you, wagging what seems to be six tails.

“S-see? It likes you!” Alphys calls from behind it. “I-its name is Endogeny, b-but we c-call it Doge m-most of the time.”

You chuckle nervously, petting it again. “There’s a good Doge……” It squelches again in what seems to be a cheerful way.

“O-ok Doge, we n-need to have a m-meeting,” Alphys says timidly, but Doge looks at her all the same. “B-back to your cold room.” Doge glorps one final sad goodbye and then trots off. You notice then that in the shadows between its legs, dog shapes shift endlessly.

“Holy sh*t,” you mutter, earning a surprised look from Toriel and a shocked look from Asgore.

“Don’t chide her on the language,” Sans says, rolling his eyes at Asgore. “You woulda sworn too if that just happened to you.”

“What the hell was that?!” you cry, being mindful of your swearing again.

“Ah…” Asgore starts but trails away again.

It’s Alphys that ends up explaining things. “Th-that’s an amalgamate, th-they’re a whole b-bunch of monsters f-fused together by determination.” She notices your confusion and turns to Sans. “Sh-she doesn’t kn-know about determination?” she asks, seeming slightly irritated.

Sans shrugs. “She only got here last night, give her a break,” he says.

Alphys takes a deep breath. “Ok, ok, s-sorry about th-that.” She sighs. “D-determination is a h-human emotion th-that gives them th-the power in the Underground to go b-back in time and change the p-past.”

Your head is spinning, mostly from that experience with Endogeny, but this information isn’t helping in the slightest. “What?!”

“Basically, if a human who fell down here wanted to, they could like, restart the timelines from a save point. Where their determination was the strongest,” Sans supplies.

“Th-thanks Sans,” Alphys replies. “H-humans can’t d-do that up there th-thankfully, but d-down here for s-some reason they could. M-monsters, on the other hand, c-couldn’t d-do that. With t-too much determination, we would melt into… Well, those.”

You shudder. So this is what everyone wasn’t telling you about. “S-so… Are there more of them?” you ask meekly.

Alphys nods. “Th-there are f-five others, one of them j-just likes to clean the place, th-the other f-four might try to fight you, but they’re really harmless,” she says quickly, seeing the look of fear on your face. “I-I live with them and I’m st-still alive, hehe…” You nod, feeling slightly better.

“We have something a little more important to discuss at this meeting today Alphys,” the king says gravely. “This here is _____, she came to us yesterday from… Where are you from, _____?” Asgore asks, turning to you.

“Uh…” You know you can’t say New York, they won’t know where that is and besides, it’s not where you technically came from. “Grensondale.”

Toriel gasps slightly while Asgore looks confused. “D-don’t you mean Gersondale?”

“What?” You feel confused until you remember Fran telling you about how the village used to be called something else when monsters were around. “Ohh, I think the people changed its name after the monsters were trapped.”

Asgore, after some thought, nods. “I guess that would make sense. It was named after a predominant family in our village. It must have changed after the war...”

“O-oh, w-well, I’m Doctor Alphys! It's n-nice to meet you _____! Th-this is my lab and the m-meeting room is j-just down the hall, I’ll show you!” She scampers along the hallway, disappearing into a large room on the right. There’s a table in the middle of an otherwise empty room. Alphys sits in her chair at the head or maybe the foot of the table. “S-so, what did you w-want to talk about Asgore?”

“Well, when _____ came here, she brought with her a book detailing how humans remember the war. It may determine our next course of action with the human population,” he says, taking a seat at the table, Toriel sitting beside him.

“Ha. It basically just confirms what I thought,” Sans says darkly from the other side of the table. “You gonna sit down?” he calls to you, gesturing to the seat next to him. You nod and perch awkwardly on the seat he only half pulls out for you. “The whole thing is riddled with lies, with a lot about skeletons actually,” he says. “All of it, a f*cking lie.” He slams a fist onto the table.

“Now, now!” Asgore says, reaching across and placing his hand on Sans’ much smaller one. “We mustn’t get upset just yet.”

Sans raises the equivalent of an eyebrow. “Have you read the book?!”

Asgore looks helplessly at Toriel. “I did,” she murmurs. “His reaction,” she says, gesturing to Sans, “along with what he said is unfortunately rather accurate.”

Alphys fixes her glasses nervously. “W-well, what do you want to do with it?” she asks.

Toriel sighs. “If this book is truly what the humans think of us, then it limits our relations with them for a while longer.”

Sans scoffs. “Monsters are seen as the incarnation of pure evil up there,” he spits, sneering. “If we go back to them, we’ll be slaughtered mercilessly. It’d be worse than last time,” he says pointedly. “And hell, I wasn’t even there for that one.” He slouches over in his chair. “Not all humans are nice like Frisk and _____.”

“Well, what about your family?” Asgore asks you. “Would they be understanding?”

Your throat closes up. “I, uh… I haven’t spoken to them in five years.”

Toriel springs up from the table and over to your side, engulfing you in a lavender-scented hug.”Oh you poor thing,” she murmurs. “Family is the hardest thing to lose.”

“I… I didn’t _lose_ them,” you mumble, muffled by her hug. “We just stopped talking for… Various reasons. You’re making it sound like they died...”

She pulls away from the hug. “Not talking or seeing them is just as bad,” she says, looking you in the eyes.

You chuckle slightly awkwardly, waving her back to her seat. “It doesn’t matter now anyway, I’ve got you guys,” you say, gesturing to everyone around you.

Toriel smiles at you and Asgore sighs. “Well, so far we can only count on two humans. We really must wait until either more humans join with us or until they find our settlement.”

Sans drums his fingers on the table. “Can we perhaps talk about this book?” he asks, clearly disgruntled by it. “Cuz the way I see it, it could just be a fairytale parents tell their kids at night, or it’s a myth book about monsters that _____ here just happened to prove are real.”

“I-I would have t-to read it f-first, b-but if what you’re s-saying is true, th-then why would parents t-tell their children those stories?” Alphys asks gently.

“Parents used to tell their kids all kinds of messed up stories to teach them lessons,” you say, shrugging slightly. “Considering the time this book would’ve been written originally, this was a nicer story against…” You glance at Sans, who’s watching you intently. “A, uh, common enemy.” You see him twitch. “Not saying the enemy was correct or anything…”

“I don’t think it is,” Toriel says slowly. “Upon reading it myself, it seems like it’s an account of someone’s life written into a story. Asgore, you have the book?”

“Yes dear, here it is,” Asgore says kindly, pulling the book out of his pocket. Seeing it makes your eyes well up slightly. You see Sans taking notes of your behaviour, even if he’s grumbling in hatred at the book right now.

“Right. Well, see here on the last page, it says ‘based on a true story’?”

“But it ain’t true, none of that sh*t is true,” Sans growls. Asgore gives him a pointed look which he ignores. “Why’s it say that if it ain’t true?!” he asks, turning to you.

“I- I… W-well, humans have a bad tendency to display the losing side in a negative way, I guess?” you suggest, hoping to appease him slightly. “Like, in wars and stuff, the person who writes the books on it has a bias. You know the Crusades? Were, were you guys up here for that?” you ask. Toriel and Asgore nod, Sans and Alphys just look confused. “W-well, in the history books, they call them Crusaders who were fighting for a noble cause. If it was written by someone else, say, a man from Jerusalem, they would have been called enemies or invaders and bad guys. I… I think that might be what’s happened here.”

Sans pauses, thinking on this and trying to work out your metaphor without actually knowing what the Crusades were. “So… If we wrote a book on the war, it would be very different from the human book, is that what you’re tryna say?” he asks eventually.

“In a round-a-bout way, yeah, I guess so.”

“That’s stupid, the truth is the truth and the humans ignored it!” he yells. Alphys covers the holes where her ears would be if she had them.

You shrug. “Never said it was smart or good.”

Asgore sighs. “So it’s agreed then? We’ll stay here as long as we can, until the humans find us?”

Sans sighs dismally. “No point starting a second war. Agreed here.” Toriel nods and Alphys murmurs in agreeance too.

“Now what should we do with this book?” Asgore asks.

Sans sighs again. “Look, as much as I’d like to rip every page out and use it for fire lighting, _____ here has said it was a present, so I say we give it back.”

Asgore looks to you for confirmation. “Y-yeah, it was from a friend,” you murmur.

“Well, that’s settled then.” He passes the book to you from across the table. “Now, we must discuss how the core is coping without the ice.”

Sans turns to you as Alphys starts rattling off a report. “Look, you don’t really need to sit in for this if you don’t wanna. You could go out and uh, get more acquainted with Doge if you want to.”

As much as you really don’t want to, you figure that you’ll have to get used to it at some point, so why not start now? “S-sure…” you mutter in uncertainty.

Sans grins. “It’ll love it. It doesn’t get much attention down here. Scream if you need help, my ears are still ringing from the last time.”

“Sorry…”

“Nah, it’s all good _____, head out, have a bit of fun with Doge, and I’ll come get you when we’re ready to head back above ground.”


	16. Chapter 16

The meeting was, in a word, long. You had no idea how much time had passed though; there wasn’t any daylight down here and you didn’t have a watch. You had sat just outside the room with Doge glooping on your lap, listening in on the core being “temperamental without the proper coolant”, or something like that. There was also some talk about weather and whether the amalgamates would be susceptible to it: “Experiments on weather and amalgamates continues”. Then finally, after a long discussion about Determination, Sans meanders out of the room.

“You been sittin’ there that whole time, _____?” he asks, looking down curiously at you and the gloopy white amalgamate spread across your lap. You had rather quickly got used to the slightly slimey and cooling ooze of Doge. It was asleep for now.

“Where else would I have been? This place is… Kinda creepy,” you admit apprehensively, hoping Sans won’t take offence to that.

“Heh, I’ll tell ya a secret _____, I used to work here, waaaay back. It was just as creepy then as it is now,” he says with a chuckle. “Now come on, Asgore and Tori will be right behind.”

“But…” You point down at the lump of goo, oozing over your legs. “It’s asleep, I don’t wanna wake it up.”

Sans grins. “Watch this.” He rattles his own bones, which is rather unnerving for you. Doge immediately wakes up, its ears pricking up and its six tails wagging in unison. “There you go, now you can get up.” He offers you his hand.

You very hesitantly take it. “What the hell did you just do?” you ask in a somewhat nervous manner, getting to your feet and then following slightly behind him.

He grins. “What, did that make you feel… A little shaken?” He winks at you and grins at his own joke.

You chuckle timidly, falling into step beside him. “D-doesn’t that hurt?”

“Nah, it’s like you waving your arm. Just a bit quicker and more… Intense,” he says, leading the two of you to the elevator. He goes to press the button, but obviously remembers about Asgore and Toriel. He sighs and starts drumming his fingers. “What’s taking those guys so long?” he mutters, peering around the corner into the hallway you just came from.

“Oh, you can say that, after I just spent who knows how long on the floor outside the door to the room?” you mumble.

Sans chuckles at you. “Touché.” He continues to tap his fingers restlessly. “Stay here, I’ll-” He looks at you shaking your head. “Ok, we’ll _both_ go see what’s taking them.” He turns on his heel and you trot quietly alongside him, not wanting to be left alone by the dark, spooky elevator. He stops by the wall, listening. Sans gives a small tut. “They’re still talking,” he mutters, annoyed. “What could be so important the-” He suddenly stops, as do you. You’d just heard your name.

“He has clearly taken her under his wing, so to speak, hasn’t he?” Asgore murmurs.

“Y-yes! B-but, oh, don’t you see, they’d be s-so good together! W-when he got upset, _____ calmed him down and th-then, you- you see how he looks at her! I ship it so much!” Alphys jitters on excitedly. You hear a scraping sound and turn to look at Sans, feeling shocked, confused, and mildly concerned. His eyes are black, but unlike the other times you’ve seen them blank, it’s clear he’s feeling the same way you are: shocked, confused and concerned. He’s managed to make scratch marks in the wall he was leaning on.

“Well, it would be good if he found someone,” Toriel murmurs hesitantly. “He looks after Papyrus so much that he often neglects himself.”

“Y-yes, so you see, _____ would t-take care of h-him! U-undyne messaged m-me about her, sh-she, hang on just a m-moment!” You hear claws tapping on something metal. “Here! Undyne s-said that _____ is the s-same age as S-sans and th-that she likes cooking and w-well, P-Papyrus isn’t the b-best cook…” she stutters. “Oh! And she- she said th-that Sans was being r-really protective a-and nice and h-he joined in for a change!” Alphys proclaims quietly. “Undyne s-said he got r-really f-flustered w-when she confronted him, s-so…”

Asgore sighs. “Now, now, even if there is something there, let us not jump to conclusions.”

Alphys huffs. “B-but, I was right about y-you and Toriel getting b-back together!”

“That’s different,” Asgore mumbles.

“And besides,” Toriel cuts in. “If they don’t want us to know about it, then we should respect their privacy. Now, they must be waiting for us either at the elevator or at the top of it. Come on.”

Sans finally comes to, freaks out and grabs your hand, sprinting. You try and keep your feet quiet on the floor and your gasping breaths to a minimum. Before you know it, you’re back at the elevator. “Holy sh*t don’t do that again!” you hiss, trying not to gasp for air.

“Sorry!” he hisses back, “They were about to catch us listening in and I’d usually teleport, but I can’t with you!”

“Well sorry I nearly threw up on you yesterday!” you mutter back grumpily. Sans is about to retaliate, but opts to take a deep breath instead. You take the hint, nod to yourself about how stupid that argument would be, and drop it.

You hear footsteps coming along the hall. “Sans? _____?” Toriel’s voice calls.

“Here!” Sans calls. “You guys took so long that I turned into a skeleton!”

Toriel giggles softly. “That’s what you were already, silly.”

You look down and realise you’re still holding hands. “Sans!” you hiss, tugging at your hand. He immediately lets it go with a quick nod of thanks. If they all saw you both holding hands, that would have been awkward to say the least.

“Oh, didn’t notice,” he calls back, just as they round the corner. Alphys peers at you, looking from you to Sans. You have to try and stop yourself from blushing now that you know why she’s doing it. “Well, as much as I like the dank, cold atmosphere down here, I really don’t. Shall we head back up?” Sans asks, pressing the elevator call button. It dings and the doors slide open

“W-well, I w-won’t be of c-course…” Alphys mutters. “I’ll, uh, b-be coming up at th-the end of the week! S-so, I’ll s-see you then!” She waves cheerily to you all and turns around, walking straight back down the corridor, already texting. Endogeny comes cantering up to say a drippy farewell, its slobbery tongue glooping its way over to you personally. You wipe off the excess slime and make your way into the elevator.

Asgore makes to get in as well, but Toriel stops him. “It was a bit squishy on the way down, don’t you think dear?” she asks pointedly. Again, you have to stop yourself from blushing; you know exactly why she’s doing this. You see Sans rolling his eyes.

Asgore looks at her confused. “Uhh… I, I guess?” he answers, hoping that he got the correct one.

Toriel nods. “Ok, well, I guess we’ll come up in the second elevator. If you wouldn’t mind waiting for us, we should like to come with you to collect Frisk from your house.”

“Ok Tori, though there’s more than enough room for all us friends to pile in,” Sans says nonchalantly. You notice the slight emphasis he put on the word ‘friends’.

“Ah yes, us _friends_ ,” Toriel responds. You’re not sure you like that emphasis as much as Sans’. The doors slide shut in front of you.

“Bloody hell,” Sans mutters. “They’re tag-teaming.”

“They’re what?” you ask, bewildered.

“Tag-teaming. You know, where they’re all in on the plot except for the two they’re trying to get together?”

“Oh.”

Sans sighs heavily. “Undyne’ll be in on it too. We only met yesterday! Christ…” he mutters.

“Let’s, uh, not fuel the fire then?” you ask hopefully.

Sans shakes his head. “Too late.” He grins at you. “Welp, hope you like me, cuz all three of those monsters are gonna find as many ways to keep us alone together as they can.” He shakes his head with a sigh. “When Alphys starts to ship something, it always comes to pass. Hell, even in her anime shows, and they’re already written!” The elevator doors open and the two of you step out.

You chuckle nervously. “Ehhh, not really looking for a relationship right now, sorry.”

Sans snorts. “Damn, rejected before I even asked.” He raises an eyebrow, suddenly serious. “Bad break up or just not your thing?” You flinch. “Bad break up,” he surmises. You nod mutely. You aren’t even sure you can call it a break up. You just left without any warning. “Well, no need to worry. I’m not looking either just yet.” He holds out his hand. “Even through these trails before us,” he jokes, “friends?”

You take his hand rather tightly. “Friends,” you say, nodding, trying not to think about Todd.

“Good, now the Alphys magic won’t work,” he teases, obviously trying to pull your mind away from whatever was bothering you. “We might have a house to avoid cleaning when we get home,” Sans muses, tapping his fingers impatiently. “I make it a point to do as little work as I can.”

You raise an eyebrow. “Oh so _that’s_ why they think we’re a thing.”

“What?” Sans asks blankly.

“Because you’re making an effort.”

Sans gives a short, sarcastic laugh. “Yeah, well, I’d like you to actually, you know, want to keep living.”

You look at your feet. “They don’t know that,” you murmur.

The elevator doors ding and Toriel steps out, Asgore closely behind her. “Well then, are we ready to go?” she asks briskly, walking off without waiting for an answer.

Sans lights up his hand. “Well, let’s not get blue ahead of ourselves here,” he chuckles, the blue light bouncing around the cavern. Toriel chuckles from up ahead, Asgore next to her. The two of you follow them.

“Ironic,” you mutter, considering blue is most definitely ahead of you here.

Sans waves his non-blue hand at you, quickening his pace. “Yeah, yeah, that’s the point. Come on, we have to get home before Paps burns the house down.”

You start to jog slightly. “That could happen??” you ask, concerned.

Sans shrugs. “Well, he takes lessons from Undyne and last time they had a ‘lesson’, Frisk did it instead of Papyrus and Undyne burnt her own house down. So yeah, extremely possible.” His breathing has become more shallow. “Damn, with you around and me not being able to take shortcuts, I have to actually exercise.”

“She’s good for your health, Sans!” Toriel calls from up ahead. Sans makes a face at her. You giggle. Toriel turns around, and Sans gives her his normal grin. She narrows her eyes at him and he shrugs back.

“Got her,” he whispers to you as she turns back around.

“You’re like a kid in detention,” you hiss back at him.

“Detention? Oh, you mean like time out?” Sans asks.

“You don’t know what detention is?” Sans shakes his head in response to your question. “Well, yeah, it’s basically time out for the annoying kids at school. A whole room dedicated to it.”

“A whole room?” Sans muses. “Man, Tori just sends kids to the corner if they don’t pay attention.” The two of you bump into Toriel and Asgore. You clearly weren’t paying attention to where you were going.

“It’s cleared up nicely,” Toriel murmurs. “It should be a wonderful sunset today.”

“Yes…” Asgore says back. “But that’s not for a few hours yet. Let’s go get Frisk, shall we?” He turns around to see the two of you backing up from running into them. Clearly neither of them noticed. “Sans? Lead the way.


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: Chapter contains mention and themes of suicide and has a PTSD/anxiety attack in it. If this may trigger anything, please do not continue reading this chapter. I would be more than happy to explain it in a message or something if you're worried about missing out. Aside from that, enjoy!

You sigh, flopping down on the bed. You still don’t quite comprehend that it’s yours yet. The night is falling fast and you’re worn out. The afternoon was… Eventful, to say the least. When the four of you came to the door, you could hear yelling and screaming from inside. Toriel had rushed in to find a fire in the kitchen, Frisk freaking out, Monster Kid running around screaming at the top of his lungs, and Papyrus telling the fire to calm down. Sans was in a fit of laughter as Toriel grabbed the children and Asgore put out the fire. Needless to say, spaghetti was not on the menu for tonight and Papyrus instead decided to try the quiche recipe Sans “found” while they were still underground. Dinner was good, with Sans doing most of the talking and Papyrus asking about the meeting. Most of it went over your head.

And now, you lie on the bed, staring at the ceiling, trying to wrap your head around your crazy day. Day… One day and all of that happens. Just one choice and here you are. What would’ve happened if… If you hadn’t said yes? What would’ve happened? Would you… Might you be dead by now? Or... “Something on your mind, kiddo?” You roll over to see Sans leaning against the open door.

“I don’t know that ‘kiddo’ is the right term for someone your own age,” you mumble.

He grins and shrugs. “Eh, whatever. But the question still stands.”

You sigh. You did tell him last night that you wanted him to keep coming back. “Come in,” you mutter, pulling yourself into a sitting position onto the many, many blankets. As it turns out, Papyrus still doesn’t know your favourite colour.

He raises his eyebrows, pushing himself off the door. “That bad, huh?” He shuts the door behind him and sits on the edge of the bed. “What’s up?”

You shrug despondently, not looking up. “Thinking.”

Sans sighs. “Never a good idea. What about, if ya don’t mind my asking?” You look warily at the door. “Paps is asleep,” he says, answering the unspoken question. “Is there anything I can-”

“What would have happened if I’d said no?” you ask softly. You hate yourself the minute you say it. What were you thinking, blurting out things like that?!

“What do you mean?”

“Where would I be now?”

_Why aren’t you shutting your mouth?! He doesn’t need to know this! He doesn’t WANT to know this!_

He shrugs, thinking it over. “That… That uh, depends on what you were going to do there, _____.” You purse your lips. “You, uh, don’t have to tell me you know, but… I’m here if you need to talk.” He smiles down at his hands ruefully. “Shoot, what I’d give to have someone say that to me.”

You look up. You may have only known Sans for a day, but you still consider him your friend. Possibly your only friend now. And friends help each other out. “W-well, I guess I’m here if you want to talk about… Whatever it is,” you say. You can’t help but feel it was awkward.

_Nice going._

Sans looks at you, almost amused. But his eyes are black. “Yeah?” He sighs. “You don’t understand this world enough yet to understand what I’m going through.”

You flinch. Ouch. “And you understand mine?” you ask shakily.

He blinks, realising how hypocritical it is to say that. “Oh.” He pauses, thinking. He sighs again. “Well, you understand about Determination, yeah?”

You think back to the morning. “The… The power that humans underground could use to… To travel back in time and stuff, right?” you ask hesitantly, thinking hard.

Sans nods. “Right.” He sighs. “Frisk had that power, and honestly… I’m not sure that they don’t still have it.” He doesn’t look at you, but he can feel your confusion. He shrugs. “Ah well, what’s it matter anyway?”

“Go on,” you murmur. “I-if you want to, that is!” you hastily add.

He gives a dry laugh and then sighs. “Sure, what the hell. Not like it makes sense to me either.” He shrugs. “Don’t really like bein’ up here much. Don’t tell Papyrus that though. He’d freak out. He’s the only reason I’m up here and not down there with Alphys.” He gestures behind him, even though the entrance to the underground is in the opposite direction. You get the point though and nod. “It’s different, it’s weird and it’s all unpredictable. Back in the underground, it was all predictable. Science could show me what was likely to happen next, I could see where things were going, I knew when someone reset, I knew things… But now…” He holds up his empty hands. “Nothing. All gone. Nothing is predictable up here. Nothing follows logic.” He rubs his face with his hands. “I… I honestly hate it. I have no control. I have no purpose. I have no…” He trails off. “Hell, I don’t even know whether Frisk _can_ reset. We may have been living the same day, over and over again. I remember that happening sometimes. The only reason I knew was because of those science machines, you would always forget when they reset. I had to pick things up by reading people.” He looks over at you, watching you and eyeing your body language. “You- you're actually interested in this…” he muses.

You nod. “Of course I am!” you exclaim, wide-eyed. He’s so… vulnerable. So hurt and… broken. “We… We’re friends, remember?”

He chuckles. “Yeah, yeah, I remember that deal.” He slumps back a bit. “You know… I don’t think I’ve ever been this open before.” He sighs, shaking his head. “I hardly even know you and here I am, trusting you with my deepest secrets.” He looks over at you steadily. “Please, don’t tell anyone about this. Nobody knows about the resets except Frisk. No one knows that I could see what would happen. That… That I… That I watched my brother…” His voice turns to a whisper and you can barely make out the next words. “I nearly watched him die… And… I remembered.” His voice breaks on the last words and he sounds like he’s holding back tears. Sans takes a slow, deep breath. “Forget I said anything,” he mutters, sitting up properly and shrugging his hoodie back onto his shoulders. “What’s going on with you?”

You open your mouth to speak, but no sound comes out at first. How can you burden someone who almost watched their brother die with your problems? And yet he continues to look at you, waiting for you to say something. “I, um…”

“Do… Do you wanna talk about why you went up the mountain or…?”

This time, you don’t flinch. You don’t even wince. You know Sans has figured it out at this point, and hell, he told you all of that, how can you withhold anything from him now? “I-I think you’ve already figured it out by this point…” you murmur, fidgeting with your shirt hem. You’ll really need to figure something out about clothes.

Sans sighs. “Well, I have some theories, but I don’t know for sure.”

“I wanted to disappear.”

Sans lets out a short, sarcastic laugh. “Ha. I know that, I meant why did you want to disappear. How you were going to, that sort of thing.”

You shrug awkwardly. “I… I don’t really know. That’s… That’s what I was thinking about when you came in. Whether I would’ve tried to, well, live out my days on a mountain, or just… Throw myself off it.” Silence hangs in the air.

Sans looks down into his lap. “Well… I’m glad you didn’t, you know?”

You look up, confused. “That I didn’t kill myself?” you ask slowly.

He nods. “I’m glad. I- I got someone to talk to now,” he admits. “Someone who… Who gets it. Kind of.” He looks up at you and smiles. “You really shouldn’t be surprised _____. Of course someone’s glad you’re still alive.” His smile fades and he looks away slightly. “I’m sure your friends would be glad too.” Is he worried you miss them? That you’d leave and go back?

You wince. “You… You mean human f-friends?” He nods, not looking at you. “I… I don’t have any.”

You half expected him to brighten up at that, especially if he was worried you’d go back. Instead, he looks up incredulously. “What do you mean? What stopped you from having friends?” he asks, almost sharply.

_He struck you across the face again. The familiar crack sound echoes around your head. “What did I say about talking to ‘friends’?! YOU HAVE NO FRIENDS, YOU WHORE.”_

_“_____!_ ____!!” You recognise Sans’ voice. That… That doesn’t belong…

The image fades and you come back to the present to find yourself trembling and shaky, almost crying. “Whoa, whoa, it’s ok,” Sans says, crawling over to sit next to you. He takes your shoulder in his hand. “Hey, hey, you have friends now…” he murmurs. You slow your breathing and thereby your heartbeat. The shaky feeling slowly leaves and you swallow. “What… What was that?” Sans asks, clearly concerned.

“I… I…” You can’t speak yet. You try swallowing again.

“You were gasping and afraid and you didn’t respond when I called your name and…” He looks up at you. “What happened??”

“Memories…” you manage to choke out.

“Memories…?” Sans asks.

“When… When I h-have m-memories ab-bout… S-someone, I relive them l-like they’re actually h-here…” you stutter.

Sans nods. “O-ok, not good memories then…” he murmurs to himself. He awkwardly pats your shoulder. “Are… Are you ok?” he asks. “Do you, like, need a hug or something?” You shake your head, looking down into your hands. “Ok, do you wanna talk about it?” he asks. You shake your head again, firmly. “Alright then.” You both sit in silence for a moment. “Is… Is that person the reason you nearly killed yourself?” he asks hesitantly. You nod. “The only reason?” You shake your head again. “Is there anything I can do to, uh, stop that sort of thing from happening?” You shake your head. You look up to find him gazing at you in a pain-stricken way. “Can… Is there anything I can do to help?”

You swallow. “St-st-stay with me…” you whisper. Why you ask him to do that, you aren’t sure. Normally you want to be alone when something like this happens. Then again, normally the people around you don’t have a clue what’s going on.

He smiles slightly but still looks worried. “I can do that… What do I do if it happens again?” he asks, trying to keep his voice level.

You take a deep breath. “T-try and pull me out of it first. Then… Then t-try to talk c-calmly to me…” you say after thinking for a moment. “I- I don’t know i-if it will work, b-but… That’s what I’d like you t-to do if it happens again.”

He nods. “Ok. How long do you want me to stay?” he asks gently, in a calm tone. Now that he’s calmer, it makes you feel less jittery. It reinforces that there’s really nothing to worry about.

“Until I g-go to sleep,” you mumble, your eyelids feeling kind of heavy already. Today was long, you were bombarded with information, there was a fire and now you just had a memory incident. It’s fair to say that you were tired.

He grins. “You do realise that I’ll probably fall asleep before you do, right?”

You shrug gently. “I-it doesn’t matter, unless you mind…?”

He chuckles. “No, I don’t. Just hope that Alphys doesn’t catch wind of this.” You chuckle feebly, still trying not to think about what just happened. “Good night, _____,” Sans says, flipping the light switch with his magic. “I’m right here.”


	18. Chapter 18

You wake up to the sound of a wail and thumping footsteps running up to your door. “_____!! SANS IS GONE!! I DON’T KNOW WHERE HE IS!!!” You slowly open your eyes to see Sans curled up against your chest, an arm around your waist. What? How? Why? Your mind is too tired to quite comprehend what’s happening. The curtains fly open and you hear him groan. “QUICKLY WE MUST LOO- OH. THERE YOU ARE. WHY ARE YOU THERE?” Papyrus turns around and shoves his face next to yours, looking down at Sans. He mumbles in his sleep and buries his head deeper into the crook of your neck.

“Uhhhh…” you murmur stupidly. You aren’t quite sure what to say, as you honestly don’t quite remember how you got here.

Papyrus frowns, standing up again. “_____, WHY ISN’T HE AWAKE?”

You shrug. “I dunno,” you mumble. “I’ll wake him up…”

Papyrus looks at you dubiously. “HOW DO YOU PLAN TO DO THAT?? HE NEVER WAKES UP UNLESS I OPEN THE CURTAINS. AND HE ISN’T WAKING UP ANYWAY.”

You shrug sleepily. “I’ll figure it out…” Papyrus nods and walks downstairs, an indiscernible warning floating up to you. Probably about not going back to sleep. “Sans…?” you murmur, prying his hand from around your waist. He’s surprisingly warm and snuggly. You roll him over to face the window and his eyes fly open as the sun hits them.

“Wha-? Where, huh?!” his eyes go blank as he looks at you, realising he’s in your bed. “What happened?!” he cries, sitting up immediately.

You shrug helplessly. “I don’t really remember.”

“Uhh…” He shuts his eyes. “Well, I wasn’t drunk. That’s a relief.” You raise your eyebrows, but don’t ask. “Uhm. Well, we had a talk, right?”

You sit up now, wrinkling your brow. “Y-yeah… We talked about…” Your memory fizzles out slightly. “It- it’s fuzzy.”

“You… You had a memory thing…” Sans says, watching to see how you would react to that.

Your face falls. “Oh.” So that was why you didn’t remember.

“What?” Sans looks at you, puzzled. “What’s wrong?”

“I… No one knows about that.”

Sans shrugs. “I do now.”

The bits before your attack are coming back to you now. You remember him confiding in you. About… “And I know some, uh, stuff about you too,” you mumble.

Sans’ face turns stony. “Yes. Yes, you do. We don’t talk about it until the night, ok? It doesn’t exist unless it’s just us two, k?” You nod. “Good.” He sighs. “And uh, we slept together because... why?” he asks in an awkward tone.

You shake your head, eyes wide. “I don’t know. You, uh, had your arms around me and were snuggled against my chest. I thought you might know how you ended up like that.”

Sans’ face goes blank. “... What.” You purse your lips and nod. He puts his head in his hands. “The curtains were open and you were still in bed,” he mutters. “That means… No no no no no no…” He jumps out of bed and races down the hallway. You slowly swing yourself out of bed and follow him downstairs.

“BUT SANS, YOU SAID THAT PEOPLE WHO LIKE EACH OTH-”

“NOO no no no no! It’s not like that bro!” Sans pleads, looking up at Papyrus begging him to believe him. “That’s not the only reason people sleep like that!”

Papyrus looks at him disbelievingly. “BUT YOU WERE CUDDLING…”

Sans groans in annoyance. You watch from the stairs, looking into the kitchen where Papyrus is cooking spaghetti again. “Uhh, um, you know how you used to have nightmares?” he asks, clutching at metaphorical straws. You tense, hoping he remembers that ‘we don’t talk about this unless it’s just us’ thing from before.

“YES?” Papyrus asks, before connecting the dots himself. “OH NO! DOES _____ HAVE NIGHTMARES?!”

“Wellllll…” Sans trails off awkwardly.

“OH NO! I SEE IT IN YOUR FACE THAT THE GREAT PAPYRUS IS, UNFORTUNATELY THIS TIME, RIGHT AGAIN!” Papyrus sighs dramatically. “WELL. ALL IS WELL THEN. YOU MUST CONTINUE TO COMFORT OUR NEW FRIEND AND SLEEP WITH HER EVERY NIGHT.”

“Sh*t,” you mutter, not loud enough for either of them to hear. Him waking up hugging you was enough to make your heart thump, reminding you of those nice times with… Well, Todd.

“Uhhhhhhhh….” Sans looks panicked. “Uhm. Well…”

“MAYBE IT WILL BE GOOD FOR YOUR NIGHTMARES TOO,” Papyrus says confidently. “I KNOW YOU STILL GET THEM SOMETIMES, AND I CAN’T ALWAYS BE THERE AS I SOMETIMES FIND MYSELF ASLEEP TOO.” You can practically see Sans sweating from here. “I SHALL HAVE TO TALK TO UNDYNE ABOUT THIS ISSUE!”

“NOOO NO NO! YOU WILL DO NO SUCH THING!” Sans yells. Papyrus looks at him, slightly shocked and confused. Sans takes a shaky deep breath. “Papyrus… _____ doesn’t want people to know about the, erm, nightmares. So uh, Undyne doesn’t need to know. About that. Any of it.”

“BUT-”

“No.”

Papyrus pauses. “IS THIS THE SAME AS YOUR NIGHTMARE… UM, THINGS?” he asks, concerned.

Sans thinks for a moment, now that he’s less afraid of Undyne knowing. “You know, I think it might be almost exactly the same, yeah.” You stow that knowledge away for tonights… discussion.

Papyrus nods. “AND YOU’RE SURE THAT I SHOULDN’T REPORT THIS TO UNDYNE.”

“Yes.”

Papyrus wrings his gloved hands together, looking concerned. “BUT SANS, SHE ALWAYS FINDS OUT THE TRUTH FROM ME!”

“Then lie,” Sans says through gritted teeth.

“BUT WHY?”

Sans groans and facepalms. “____, can you explain the Alphys thing?” You jump slightly at your name and slowly creep down the stairs. Clearly Sans had noticed you watching. And listening.

“OH, HELLO _____. THANK YOU FOR WAKING SANS. WHAT IS THIS ALPHYS THING?”

“Uhhh…” you mumble nervously, looking at Sans who shrugs, also looking slightly panicked. “W-well, Alphys…” You gesture with your hands. “She, uh, she and Undyne seem to umm, ship us.”

“SHIP… AS IN… RELATIONSHIP?” Papyrus asks slowly. “WHY IS THAT BAD? YOU TWO WOULD BE BRILLIANT TOGETHER!” Sans takes a deep breath, about to say something. “AS BEST FRIENDS!” Sans lets out the breath slowly. Papyrus looks at Sans’ reaction. “THAT… THAT ISN’T WHAT THAT MEANS, IS IT…” he says slowly. “OH! SHE MEANS LIKE A DATE?!” You nod. “RIGHT. WELL. IF I LEARNT ONE THING FROM MY DATE WITH FRISK-” You look at Sans, horrified and slightly confused. “-IT’S THAT YOU CAN’T FORCE FEELINGS.” Sans mouths ‘later’ at you, nodding along with what Papyrus was saying. “SO DON’T FORCE ANYTHING. NYEH HEH HEH!” He stirs the… Whatever is in the pot. “WELL, I MUST GO, I SHALL HAVE TO TAKE MY BREAKFAST WITH ME. I’M NEARLY FINISHED THE RUINS!” He takes off out the door, calling out a faint goodbye.

Sans scratches his skull. “Well. That was… Not good.” He shuffles over to the cupboard. “Coco puffs?”

“S-sure…” you murmur. “Do… Do you have, like, a job you need to go to today or...?” you ask, wondering what on earth you’ll do if he says yes.

Sans chuckles. “Nah, I’m on break. Everyone is. Except uh, Papyrus…” Sans chuckles. “Though, I guess Tori and Asgore aren’t either. And Undyne also teaches at the school. There’s only, like, 7 kids though.” Sans sighs. “So not only are you stuck with me every night, but most of the day as well. Still, uh, friends, right?” he asks, wincing slightly. He passes you a bowl of cereal.

“Yeah, of course,” you say, mouth half-full with cereal.

Sans chuckles. “Heh, yeah. You know too much now.” He grins. “Hey, you know what, I could take you out to the village today.” You raise an eyebrow and he panics slightly. “Not like that!! In a friendly, like, hang out sorta way!”

You laugh. “I know.” You pause, the spoon halfway back to the bowl as you stand, leaning against the tall sink. “What did he mean about dating Frisk?? Isn’t Papyrus 20 and Frisk like… 8?”

Sans laughs. “Oh god, yeah, uh… Forgot to mention, Frisk is a huuuuge flirt. They’ll flirt with anyone, anywhere, anytime. And no one knows why. Kinda surprised they didn’t flirt with you too.” He grins. “I overheard Tori telling Asgore about a time Frisk flirted with her… Apparently, they said ‘hey momma, did you sit in a pile of sugar, cuz that’s a sweet ass’... I didn’t know whether to be scared or just laugh. They don’t talk much unless it’s to flirt.”

You try to stop yourself from doing a spit take of coco puffs and only just succeed. You swallow the mouthful. “What the f*ck??”

“I know…” He sighs. “They told Papyrus they’d love to take him to the bone zone. Honestly… The kid needs to be stopped.”

You choke on the milk. “What.”

Sans ignores your question. “Yeah, so Papyrus thought that flirting means you take them on a date, so that was interesting when he told me about that. Paps wasn’t really interested anyway.” He points to the bowl. “You done with that?” You nod and he magics the bowl up to the sink.

“How do you do that?”

“Make the sink that high or make the bowl float?” He grins as you just nod. “Magic.”

You narrow your eyes. “Uh huh, that’s your answer to everything, isn’t it?”

“Nuh uh,” he protests. “I’m still a scientist, I know science.”

“Then why is magic the answer?!” you complain.

“Because magic,” he says, smirking. You roll your eyes. “Monsters are made of magic. Humans aren’t. Science!” He gives you some jazz hands as he says ‘science’.

You cross your arms. “Yeah, so if you show me around the village today, tomorrow you’re explaining this whole ‘magic’ thing.”

You see something flicker in the back of his eyes. “Maybe another time. After you’re more settled here,” he says nonchalantly. You eye him suspiciously. Growing up in New York… It made you surprisingly good at telling and detecting lies. Friends, family, who did drugs, who didn’t… If you didn’t have an eye for the truth, you wouldn’t’ve known. That was… well… before you met Todd. But you knew how to see deceit. You know he isn’t telling the whole truth. And he knows that you know. “Heavy subject, that’s all,” he says, giving you a shrug. “Anyway. Whenever you’re ready, we can head into the village. They’re the only clothes you got, right?” You nod, slightly embarrassed. He makes his way to the door. “Ehhh, maybe we can fix that. Coming, _____?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Something to note, btw: Panic attacks can often disorient a person to the point where they can't really remember why they were panicking in the first place. In a mental shut-down (very similar to a panic attack), it is common that you can't even remember your thoughts even five minutes afterwards. A PTSD attack (almost like the two of them combined but also with reliving the event) varies from person to person, but it is like living in that time all over again. I'm happy to discuss these things over messages if you're interested.


	19. Chapter 19

“So… How long did it take to get the village set up?” you ask, seeing it in the near distance.

Sans shrugs, his hands in his pockets. “Eh, a few months actually. The first few days out here we all just kinda… celebrated and then went back underground for the night.”

You raise an eyebrow. “Really? You went back at night? What if the barrier hadn’t truly broken?”

Sans looks at you coolly. “Trust me. It had.” You nod, not quite sure what to make of that. “And besides, all our homes were still underground. Papyrus was the first to start moving everything so he could see the sun when it rose every morning.” Sans shakes his head and chuckles. “He never gets enough sleep.”

You chuckle nervously. “And uh, you’re certain he won’t tell Undyne?”

Sans grimaced. “No, not really. Though I know he ain’t gonna do it intentionally, so if he does I can’t blame him for it.”

There’s a very obvious point where the village begins. There’s a large sign saying ‘Welcome to Snowdin!’ Only, the ‘Snow’ part is crossed out with a red marker and the word Sun is written above it. “Sundin?” you ask, confused.

Sans grins and shrugs. “We had a town called Snowdin underground cuz it was super cold there and it snowed-”

“It snowed Underground??” you ask, surprised. “How’s that even possible, science man?”

“Science _guy_ , thank you very much,” he teases. “Well, you see, there’s this thing called magic.”

You roll your eyes. “Why would you make it perpetually snow there?!”

Sans shrugs. “Dunno. I didn’t do it. We all thought the humans did it to stop us from spreading out underground.”

“But you said it was magic…?” you mumble as the two of you enter the village of Sundin.

“Yeah… Humans can have magic too you know. From what Tori’s said, you guys have names for them. Sages, witches, wizards, you know.”

You stop walking in thought. “Well, I guess if monsters are real, then witches and wizards may as well be too.” You look around the town. There are lots of small houses dotted here and there, a library… No, wait, a librarby, a place that looks like a pub, a guardhouse, and a little row of shops. A school stands on the side of the hill overlooking the little town. The town itself has a few monsters roaming around, chatting to each other. “I was preparing for more people to be around,” you say, glad that there aren’t.

Sans smiles. “Nah, people have work and school. Or they’re at Grillby’s. We’ll head in there after we make a few stops.”

You look around nervously. “Well, uh, where are we going now?”

Sans walks across the square, past what appears to be a Christmas tree. You follow him. “In here,” he says, opening a shop door. You step inside and he closes the door behind you.

“‘Ello there, an’ ‘ow may I ‘elp you?” a large purple bunny asks. You jump and she chuckles. “Sorry there, is ev’ryfing alright?” She notices Sans. “‘An’ ‘ow are you doin’ today Sans? Mighty fine weather we’ve been ‘avin’!”

“I’m good thanks, Lottie, how’re you?”

“I’m doin’ jus’ swimmin’ly! And ‘oo’s this you brough’ along with you?” ‘Lottie’ asks.

“I-I’m _____,” you say timidly.

“Oh come now, no need ta be shy!” she says giving you an encouraging smile. “My name’s Charlotte, bu’ folks ‘round ‘ere jus’ call me Lo’ie!”

_Why does she have a London accent?_

_Don’t ask her that, that’s rude!_

“What’s your accent?” you ask quietly, scolding yourself mentally.

Thankfully, she doesn’t take offence to that. She chuckles. “Oh, I dunno. Tha’s prob’ly some sor’ of ‘uman thing, ain’ it? We don’ really bother with tha’ sor’a thing. To ev'ryone around 'ere, I jus' talk diff'rent.” She grins. “Now, wha’ can I ge’ you?”

You look nervously at Sans who raises an eyebrow at you. “I…”

_She’s going to judge you for not having clothes._

_If you mess up, she’ll judge you._

_Sans is already judging you._

_Why can’t you just ask a question, you idiot! Just say it!_

“You ok, _____?” Sans asks gently.

You nod slowly. “Do you s-sell clothes?” you mumble.

_Now she’ll think that you’re just a snobbish girl who only likes fashion._

“She’s only got the one pair, found her in the woods yesterday. She’s pretty cool. Paps wanted to keep her,” Sans said with a teasing grin. You flush, slightly embarrassed.

“Oh, tha’s no’ to worry! My goodness, you mus’a had a rough day if tha’s wha’ 'appened. ‘Ere, I’ll show you ou’ back. An’ don’ worry, one size fits all!”

“Magic,” Sans whispers to you with a grin and a thumbs up. You roll your eyes and shuffle along following Lottie.  
  


Five minutes later and you have an armload of bags. Lottie had a good eye for fashion, you must admit. “See, told ya we’d figure something out,” Sans says cheerfully.

“It’s much quicker going clothes shopping when you know it will all fit perfectly,” you mumble, nodding. “You’re sure you’re ok to pay for it?” you ask anxiously.

“Hey, course I am. And besides,” he says, walking over to what is definitely a Christmas tree, “you don’t exactly have any g.”

“Is that the currency?” you muse to yourself. “Also, why do monsters have a Christmas tree up?”

Sans looks at you, confused. “Christmas…? Is that a human holiday?”

You look back at him, equally confused. “Yes… If it isn’t a Christmas tree, then what is it?”

“A Gyftmas tree.”

If you didn’t have bags on your arms, then you would have crossed them. “Stop kidding with me, you know what Christmas is, right?” you ask, thinking that surely Sans is just messing with you.

“Nope. Not a clue.” Sans looks at you, completely phased.

“Then what is a Gyftmas??” you ask.

“It’s a holiday that we made for a monster who had some teens decorate its horns. The horns look like trees. The monster felt awful and humiliated even after being undecorated because the teens kept doing it. So we gradually stopped trying to undecorate him and instead made something so he wasn’t the only one decorated stupidly. Hence the tree. We also tried giving him presents.” Sans pauses. “Well, Papyrus did and then a couple other people caught on. So when we celebrate Gyftmas, we give ‘gyfts’ to each other.”

“Umm, what??”

“What?” Sans asks. “Well, what’s Christmas about?”

You chuckle nervously. “Well, depends who you ask. There are a few stories that I know.”

“Pick one of them, I guess,” Sans says, sitting down on a bench under the pine tree. You put the bags down and sit with him.

“Uh, well, if you want one of the origins of it, it started with a man called Saint Nicholas.”

“That’s a weird name,” Sans muses.

“Nicholas?”

“No, Saint.”

You laugh. “That’s a title, like saying Mrs, Mr, Dr, that sort of thing. It’s religious.” You pause. “Do you guys have religion here?”

“What’s religion??” Sans looks confused, but also intrigued. “You humans have some weird stuff going on.”

“Religion is more about believing how the world was made and life values and stuff.”

Sans grins. “I guess my religion is my laziness.”

You aren’t quite sure how to dispute that. “Most religions have a God or many gods… Some have none though.” You shrug. “Not something I particularly think about much.”

Sans chuckles. “I clearly don’t either. Anyway, that Nick dude. What about him?”

“Oh! Right, Christmas. Um, well, he found out that a lot of kids couldn’t have nice things like sweets and stuff because they were so poor and it broke his heart. So once a year in the winter, he’d put sweets and toys and money in their boots that would sit on the doorstep. It became a thing.”

Sans thinks for a moment. “So… Where does the tree come in?”

You rack your brain. “There was another guy, Martin Luther, also religious. Story goes that he was walking through the woods, seeing the trees and the snow and the stars and thought to himself that he wanted a piece of creation in his home.” You look at the tree behind Sans. “The traditional Christmas tree would have tinsel for the snow, the tree for the woods and instead of baubles, they’d have candles for the stars.” You pause. “I’m sure there are other stories as to why, but that’s the one they taught me in school.”

“But candles next to trees is really dangerous…” Sans says, extremely confused. “And what does that have to do with the Nick guy?”

You shrug helplessly. “I don’t know. They were both during the wintertime?” you suggest. “It became a super religious event about God coming to earth as a baby.”

“What? You lost me there.”

You shrug. “I don’t really know how, but now a lot of people celebrate it as the day God was born as a baby.”

Sans looks very confused. “So… Christmas is about a random guy putting nice things in boots, another guy walking a woods but it’s also about a baby??”

You sigh. “There’s also the idea that it came from mid-winter celebrations to cheer everyone up in the cold.”

“So… Wait, it’s about four different things?? What do you even do??” Sans looks at you in bewilderment.

You sigh. “Look, there are a lot more origin stories about it than those four. Hell, there are other holidays at the same time with completely different religious meanings. Christmas for most people is about getting together with family, eating a bunch of food and giving each other presents.”

“So… It’s basically Gyftmas?” Sans asks finally.

You nod. “Yup. Sounds similar too. I thought you were kidding until you had a full-on backstory for me,” you say with a chuckle.

Sans grins. “I still can’t get my head around what Christmas even is… But I’m sure whenever it happens, we can just do our Gyftmas celebrations.” You nod. “So… Shall I send these bags home and then we get some lunch? All this thinking has made me hungry.”

“How are you going to send the clothes home?” you ask curiously.

“Well, uh, I mean, if you’re ok to stay here by yourself for a minute, I’ll teleport home and come back super quick.”

You take a deep breath. There's barely anyone around and you would only be alone for a few moments. “Ok, sure. Just, uh, put the bags in my- uh… Our room?” you say hesitantly, not quite sure what to call it.

Sans thinks on it for a moment, shrugs and nods. “I s’pose it is our room, I guess. Either way, see you in a sec.” He winks and then vanishes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just to note, I went to a Lutheran school where they taught us about the Lutheran origins of Christianity (St Nick and Martin Luther) so that's why it's there. Tried to keep religious stuff vague here, don't particularly want to touch on that subject in this book


	20. Chapter 20

You wait patiently for Sans. Well, even calling it waiting is a bit of a stretch as he was back within five seconds. “Hey _____, do you really sleep with all those blankets?” Sans asks as he reappears suddenly.

You raise an eyebrow. “You should know, you slept there l-”

“Shhh!” Sans cries, putting his hand over your mouth. You resist the urge to retaliate by licking it, because that would just be really weird.

“What?” you ask, muffled by the skeleton hand.

“We don’t speak of this outside,” he mumbles, slightly embarrassed, taking his hand off your mouth.

“Outside our bedroom?” you whisper back teasingly.

He narrows his eyes at you. “Do you want lunch or not?”

“Yes…” you mumble, having the decency to look slightly ashamed. “Sorry.”

He rolls his eyes and grins. “Nah, it’s no worries. But seriously, word travels fast here.” He sighs. “Most people that see us will probably think we’re dating. So that’s gonna get back to Undyne at some point and then she’s gonna grill Papyrus on it and then…” He leaves the sentence hanging in the air. You can fill in the blanks quite easily.

“So, where are we going?” you ask, moving away from the awkward subject.

“Grillby’s. Best place in town for food, honestly. Not including Tori’s.”

You look around. “Is it the only place in town for food?”

He grins at you. “Yup. Well, until Mettaton has the hotel rebuilt. That’s bound to eventually get a restaurant.” He leads you over to the little establishment, opening the door for you. “After you, m’lady,” he teases.

You smile slightly and roll your eyes, walking in. “You’re doing nothing for the whole “just friends” thing. In fact, you’re probably making it worse.” There’s a small crowd of monsters sitting around various tables. Most of them are dogs, which is nice. None of them are particularly creepy or freaky to you except for the Piranha plant in the corner. It’s rather large and very much alive as it scarfs down a burger. The door closes behind you and Sans walks through the tables, chatting briefly to a few of the dogs on the way, making his way to the bar. You hadn’t noticed the bartender until now. He’s a literal body of fire, wearing a tuxedo and glasses. You open your mouth to ask Sans how his clothes aren’t burning up when you stop, because one, that would be rude, and two, the answer is magic.

His voice is soft and crackling, so soft that you can barely hear him. “What can I get for you today Sans?” he asks.

“Well, I’ll have the regular, what do you want?” he asks, turning to you.

“Uhhh….” You look back at Sans nervously. You’re not used to this place, you don’t know what the social standards are here, Sans is obviously well known and you aren’t… Your social anxiety starts to kick in and you try to not hyperventilate.

His brow crumples in concern. “Make that two of the regular,” he murmurs. The bartender nods and walks out the back. “_____, are you ok?” he asks softly. “Is this a memory thing?”

You shake your head. “N-n-no, I just… I haven’t been here before, there’s a lot of people and…” You trail off, mumbling.

“We can head out if you want?” he asks gently. “It’s ok, Grillby won’t be offended or anything.”

You shake your head determinedly. “N-no, I’ll be ok…” You take deep breaths. “I’ll be fine,” you murmur, more to yourself than anyone else.

“Ok, as long as you’re sure,” he mumbles. The bartender, who you assume to be Grillby, brings the food out.

“Is everything alright my dear?” Grillby asks you.

You give him a slightly wobbly smile. “Yes thank you,” you mumble. Sans looks at you surprised, as does Grillby.

“You… You can hear me?” he asks, his voice crackling with his fire.

You tilt your head to the side. “Yes, I can.”

Sans and Grillby share a baffled and somewhat happy look. “You’ve either got real good hearing, _____, or you can actually understand fire-speak.”

You shrug awkwardly. “As… As much as it sounds cool to understand fire-speak, I’ve often been told I have extremely good hearing. S-sorry to disappoint you,” you murmur, looking down at your lunch.

“Oh! Oh no, I am not disappointed by that my dear! In fact, I feel rather the opposite.” He smiles at you, or, it seems like he does as you aren’t quite sure. “No, I am just glad I have someone else who I can talk to.”

“What, you gettin’ tired of me, huh?” teases Sans. “Or is it the puns? This question is really… Frying my brain,” Sans says with a grin, holding a fry and eating it.

The crackling gets louder and more irritated. “That is exactly why I am glad I have someone else to talk with now.” Grillby turns to you. “_____, is it?” You nod. “My name is Grillby, though I suppose you gathered that from the sign out front. Is there anything I can get you?”

You shake your head. “N-not right now Grillby thanks…” He gives you a nod and goes to clean some glasses. “He’s nice,” you murmur to Sans.

“Ketchup?” Sans asks, pro-offering you the bottle.

You look uneasily at it. “No thanks, you putting it on coco puffs has kinda put a dampener on my taste for it.” You hear Grillby chuckling from not too far away.

Sans shrugs. “Suit yourself.” He drinks the ketchup straight from the bottle. You look at him incredulously. “What?”

“That is disgusting,” you say.

He grins. “Don’t got any taste buds.”

“That explains a lot.”

He laughs. “Yeah, yeah, whatever. You don’t want taste buds if you’re dealing with Papyrus’s spaghetti.”

You look up from your meal. “What makes it go to the point of setting fire to the kitchen?”

Sans chuckles. “It doesn’t always get to that point, but nine out of ten times it does. It’s part of Undyne’s, uh… Family recipe.”

“Burning things is part of the recipe??” you ask bewildered.

Sans nods. “Frisk once had a cooking lesson with her. They told us all about it and the basic steps were as follows.” Sans clears his non-existent throat. “Beat the vegetables up, throw the pasta into the pot, box and all, javelin the sh*t out of the pot and then turn the heat all the way up. She burnt her house down by doing that and had to couch surf with us for a while.”

Your face goes blank. “That is not a good recipe.”

“It’s a great recipe! If you want a recipe for disaster,” Sans jokes.

“So… If he wants me to eat his spaghetti, what do I do?” you ask quietly.

Sans shrugs. “Refuse it in a way that’s a compliment, he always manages to get something good out of an insult.” Sans sighs happily. “He’s cool like that. Harsh words just kinda, bounce off him.”

You sit and think. “I wish I could have done that,” you mumble.

Sans nods slightly bitterly. “Yeah, same here. Hard to let the insults bounce off if they’re inside you though.” You both sit there, eating and thinking on that. After a little while of quiet munching, Sans looks at the time. “Hey, _____, we have about half an hour before Frisk needs picking up. We could surprise them and bring Frisk and MK back home with us, if you like?”

You shrug. “Uhh, s-sure? I guess? Why not, I guess.”


	21. Chapter 21

Half an hour and a lot of puns later, you and Sans had both finished your food and were starting the short trek to the schoolyard. “So, have you called Toriel yet?” you ask.

Sans whips out his flip phone. “Not yet.” He dials the number. The phone is so old that it makes dial sounds as he clicks the buttons. “Knock knock.”

You can faintly hear the voice on the other end. “Who’s there?”

“You are, aren’t you?”

‘You are aren’t- oh hahaha!” Toriel breaks off into laughter at the bad joke.

Sans grins on the other side. “Hope I haven’t caught you off guard, but uh, you want Paps, _____ and I to take Frisk and MK home with us for tea?”

There’s a pause. “So long as you don’t let Papyrus cook.”

_Geez, I really don’t think eating his spaghetti is a good idea…_

Sans chuckles. “Ok Tori, we’ll see ya soon,” he says. “See, told you it’d be fine.”

You chuckle nervously. “Yeah… So, what’ll we do with them?”

Sans looks at you in mock horror. “The way you said that it makes you sound like you’re tryna get rid of their bodies,” he teases.

You roll your eyes. “That’s not what I meant!” you cry out. Sans chuckles. You reach the school gate. “Pretty grand for 7 kids,” you murmur.

Sans grins. “Yeah, well, we had some old gates from puzzles underground. Paps brought them up here, above ground.”

He gives the gate a push just as Frisk walks out of the school. Their face lights up and they run over. “Sans!” they say happily, running up and giving him a hug.

“Hey kiddo,” Sans grins down at them. “How was school?” You look at Sans, confused. From what you remember, Frisk didn’t talk much. Sans had even told you so.

“Boring.” They give no more elaboration, but they do give Sans a sweet and childish grin.

Sans chuckles. “Right. MK coming too?” he asks, peering behind Frisk.

“Yeah.” Frisk turns to look over at you and gives a small smirk. “Shame though, I would’ve loved to spend the time alone with you, gorgeous.” They give you a wink and a flirty finger gun. That’s the most words you’ve ever heard them string together in a sentence.

You feel your face go red. “Uhh, um… Th-thanks,” you mumble.

Sans holds Frisk at arm’s length. “Kid. No.”

Frisk gives him a pout. “Why not?”

Sans narrows his eyes. “Just… Don’t.” Frisk grins at Sans and rolls their eyes.

“YOO! IT’S YOU! _____!” Monster kid comes running up to you and then trips, falling on his face. Frisk laughs at him. “I know, don’t run down hills Michael!” he says, imitating Toriel’s voice surprisingly well.

“_____, we’ve got two kids falling for you it seems,” Sans teases, winking at you.

You fold your arms, fighting the blush that you know is probably already on your cheeks. “It better not be all three of you,” you mutter. Frisk laughs harder and Sans ignores you.

“So, what’re we doing?!” MK asks.

Sans shrugs. “You guys wanna look through the old cupboard and see what we find?” MK nods excitedly while Frisk shakes their head vigorously. Sans grins. “Looking through the cupboard it is,” he determines, grinning at Frisk. “Come on, let’s go.”

“Shortcut!” calls Frisk.

“Nope, we’re walking!” Sans calls back over his shoulder. “It’s good for your health!”

“Since when did you care about health benefits!” Undyne yells as she sprints out of the school.

You jump. “Undyne don’t do that!!” you cry, clutching at your heart as she comes to a stop with you.

“Fuh hah ha! Didn’t expect me to be around?!” she laughs. Sans stops and walks back to where the two of you are standing. “I teach gym classes on Tuesdays.”

“It’s a Tuesday?” you ask quietly.

“Yeah! Why else would I be at the school?!” she asks, clapping you on the back. You just manage to not stumble forwards. “Anyway, Sans what’s with the health kick??”

“Don’t call it a health kick,” you mumble, “He was eating at Grillby’s not even an hour ago. Drinking ketchup.”

Undyne chuckles. “Ok, fine, what’s with the walking?”

“Yeah!” calls Frisk.

“_____ can’t teleport and I don’t wanna have to make multiple trips.” Frisk gives you what can only be described as a sh*t-eating grin.

“Ooohhhhh,” Undyne says, nudging you. “I get it.” She gives you a very obvious and completely unnecessary wink. “So what are you guys planning to do?”

“Look through the old cupboards for games!” MK says delightedly.

Undyne throws back her head and laughs. “HA! That’s your idea of FUN?! I’M COMING TOO, I’ll make it BETTER!!” She starts sprinting. “Come on let’s go!!” Her voice fades in the distance.

Monster Kid and Frisk look on in awe. MK speaks for them both. “Man, I wish I could run like that…”

Sans rolls his eyes. “If it were just me, I’d teleport anyway and beat her… Making her wait will be the next best thing,” he grumbles quietly next to you. “Welp, let’s get going,” he sighs. All of you traipse through the town once again at a leisurely pace. When you eventually reach the house, you find the door hanging haphazardly on its hinges.

“Did we leave the door like that this morning?” you murmur.

Sans shakes his head and huffs. “Undyne, why’d you have to break the door again?!” he asks.

“DIDN’T WANT TO WAIT, YOU GUYS ARE SO SLOW!” she yells. Sans sighs and holds the door steady while you, Frisk and MK walk through. “By the way, I found this game!” she calls.

You peer over her shoulder. “Mixer??” you ask.

“Oh god no,” Sans mumbles.

“What is it?” you ask quietly, as Frisk and MK are already setting the game up.

“It’s… It’s a game where someone calls out colours and body parts and you have to put whatever the part is on the coloured mat.”

You look at the mat. It’s literally a Twister game. “Oh, I’ve played this before,” you say. “It’s Twister.”

“I haven’t played it since I won by taking my leg off,” Sans says with a chuckle. You give him a horrified look.

“You can’t do that this time!!” Undyne calls. “That’s been deemed cheating! You two playing?”

_What’s the worst that could happen, right? It’s not like you’ll be the only one looking stupid…_

“S-sure, I’ll play. Sans?” You turn to him, raising an eyebrow. He crosses his arms.

“C’mon Sans! It’s so much better with four players!” Undyne calls. “Besides, I wanna beat you from when you beat me at the pillow fight the other day!”

He sighs and then grins. “Don’t get my silence twisted for me saying no, I was gonna say yes anyway.” He winks at you because you would be the only one to get the pun. “Who’s on the spinner?”

“Me!” MK shouts. Of course, he doesn’t have any arms. “It’s a suuuper important job!” He stands on one corner of the spinner and then kicks it with his other foot. “Right hand green!”

You all line up on one side of the board and place your right hand on a green dot in front of you. “How do other monsters play this game?” you ask.

Sans shrugs. “We decide what it means for them by ‘right hand’ if it’s necessary.”

“Left foot green!” MK calls out. There are only two spare green circles left. Frisk and you put your foot in a new circle while Sans and Undyne try to remain upright. “Haha! Undyne, you look like an angry cat!”

“I AM AND ALWAYS WILL BE STRONG FISH AND I WILL DESTROY YOU ALL!!” she yells. Frisk puts their left hand to their ear. It doesn’t do much, even if she is to their left.

“Left hand yellow!”

As you place your left hand behind your leg, you have a full realisation as to why it’s called Twister. “Why does it have to be cheating to take my arm off?” Sans grumbles on your right. You crack a smile.

“Left hand red!” You look behind you where the red circle gleams tantalisingly, almost too far away. You pause, thinking about how best to get your hand there. You look through the gap beneath your left arm and see Sans effortlessly turn his body, landing his hand on the red dot. You draw your leg back to stabilise yourself and your fingers scrape the edge of the red circle. Frisk collapses in front of you as they try to throw their weight onto their hand. “Ha ha! You’re out Frisk!” They pout at MK and you just continue struggling to keep your balance, your butt hanging in the air.

“Do you mind?” Sans asks quietly.

“Mind wha-”

“Right hand blue!” MK calls loudly. Undyne flips onto doing a backwards plank effortlessly, not breaking a sweat. Now that Frisk is out, you have more space and roll over to do a normal plank on only one foot. It hurts, but you won’t give up.

“At least your butt is out of my face,” Sans teases.

You blush. “Sorry! That’s part of the game!!” you cry in a strangulated voice. Clearly, he managed to get his right hand on a blue circle too. Frisk and Monster Kid giggle at that.

“You sure you weren’t enjoying the view?” Undyne teased.

“Undyne, children!” you hiss quietly.

“Shut it!” Sans snaps at her.

“Right foot blue!” MK announces, clearly not concerned by any of the conversation between the adults.

You draw your foot up to your hand. It makes it easier and your lack of abs is no longer screaming at you. “Come on! Get a harder one!” Undyne calls out.

“I can’t control it!” MK calls out. “Besides, Frisk is spinning for me. Left foot blue!”

“FU HA HA HA! THAT’S MORE LIKE IT! I FEEL THE PAIN AND BURN!!!”

“That’s because of the way you decided to position yourself!” you call out at her. You move your left foot onto the circle that’s next to your right foot, keeping Sans to only one circle. You’re basically just standing up. You look at Sans. He has three of his four limbs on one circle and he narrows his eyes at you taking up two blue circles. You look over to Undyne. Her back is arched at an entirely unnatural angle. “Undyne what the hell?!”

“THE PAIN!!” she cries in glee.

“Masochist much…” you mutter. She doesn’t hear you, but the snicker from Sans says that he did.

“Right hand red!” MK calls out excitedly watching Undyne. You all easily comply. You let Sans have the other red circle and move your right hand over to your left one. “Right foot yellow!” You scooch your right foot back onto a yellow circle. You hear a cry and look over to see Undyne sweating slightly, her arms bulging.

“Is- Is that all you got?!” she cries.

“Left foot green!”

“Easy!” she calls out.

“You know, the more you tell us how easy it is, the more I think you’re having trouble,” Sans says with a grin as both you and Sans go into a relaxed plank by sliding your left foot back.

“Left hand green!”

“Do my arms even stretch that far?” you mumble. You find that after twisting around to face Sans, that it does. He twists the opposite way and your face is practically inches away from his. You try not to blush.

“And… NGAAAHH!!!” You and Sans hear a crash and a cry from Undyne and Monster Kid respectively.

“Undyne!!! Are you ok?!” MK asks, horrified.

“I’m fine, but my pride is bruised!!” she cries out. “DAMMIT _____ AND SANS!! WHY MUST YOU DEFEAT ME SO?!”

“What happened, you’re the one facing that direction,” you mumble, try not to think about what this looks like.

“I wasn’t watching!” he admits.

“Sans, _____, what the hell?!” Undyne asks. “You realise there’s like, a whole mat to use, right?!”

You do your best to turn and look at her scathingly. “Kind of hard to use it when I’m trying to keep my balance!!” You hear Frisk humming a familiar-sounding taunt, and though you can’t make out the words they’re saying, your brain can fill them in.

_Sans and _____, sittin’ in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g~!_

“Right hand blue!”

“That’s too easy!! Give it here!” Undyne cries. You and Sans shift your right hand back down to blue anyway. “Left ha- no! Why are THEY getting the EASY ONES??!” She grumbles and sits herself down on the couch with an audible thump.

“Right foot blue!” MK calls.

“Another easy one,” Sans snickers. You’re still just as close as ever to his face.

The door flies open. “WHY IS THE DOOR OFF ITS HINGES?” Papyrus asks.

“That’d be my fault!” Undyne calls out.

“WHY UNDYNE IS HERE!!” Papyrus cries excitedly, rushing in. He stops short at the two of you. “OH!! OH! OH. I UH, I THOUGHT YOU SAID IT WASN’T LIKE THAT THIS MORNING WHEN I ASKED ABOUT THE… THING.”

Sans splutters and his face turns a pale shade of blue. “It- it isn’t like that!” he stammered. You wobble slightly, phased the accusation.

“THEN WHY ARE YOU KISSI- OH, OH. YOU AREN’T.” You topple backwards and fall. At least it hides your blushing.

Undyne starts howling with laughter. “Oh my god, you thought they were WHAT??”

“S-Sans wins?” MK declares in uncertainty.


	22. Chapter 22

Sans collapses backwards off the mat. “_____, you owe me for making me do that,” he mumbles as you sit up.

“I didn’t make you do anything,” you murmur back, standing up and holding out your hand for him. He shakes his head and slumps back down, huddling into his slightly oversized hoodie.

You look over to the couch where Undyne is teasing Papyrus. “You thought they were kissing?!” Undyne cackles.

“W-WELL, THEY WERE EXTREMELY CLOSE TO EACH OTHER!!” he protests feebly.

“Do you know something we don’t?” she teases, wiggling her eyebrows.

Papyrus starts to sweat. You step in, especially when you can hear Sans softly cursing her. “Undyne, leave him alone,” you say as casually as you can. “From what I hear, Sans doesn’t tell much of anything to anyone, so he wouldn’t know.”

“THAT’S N-” You give Papyrus a look that tells him ‘I just saved your ass’. “THAT’S EXACTLY TRUE. HE NEVER TELLS ME WHEN HE SLACKS OFF WORK!!” he says, a little too proudly considering he’s lying slightly. “EXCEPT FOR THE ONE TIME HE DID.” You shoot him the look again and he stops talking.

Undyne chuckles. “I’m just kidding you guys, geez.”

You put your hands on your hips. “Not if you ask Alphys.”

“Oh my GOD SHE TOLD YOU?!?” Undyne covers her face in shame.

“Not exactly…” you mumble.

“SHE TOLD OTHER PEOPLE?!?!?!?” Undyne has gone into freak-out mode.

“U-UNDYNE!” Papyrus calls, attempting a soothing tone. “YOU SHOULD PROBABLY BE MORE CALM ABOUT THIS SITUATION. IT WILL ALL BE OK. NOW, SHALL I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, CRAFT HIS WORLD FAMOUS SPAGHETTI?!”

“Nah, let _____ cook tonight,” Sans calls out from the muffled heap still lying on the ground. “She likes cooking apparently.”

You freeze up. Is this Sans’ way at getting back at you? Well, even if it is, you know you can’t let Papyrus cook. “Uhh, y-yeah! I’d love to do it!” you say, shooting Sans a quick glare. He grins back at you, now that he’s sitting up. “What do you guys want?”

“SPAGHETTI!!!”

You step back slightly in shock as four individuals yell out for the pasta dish. “O-ok!” you say with a grin. “I’ll, uh, head out there and see what I can find.” You turn around and start walking out into the kitchen.

Sans stands up quickly, catching your arm as you wander. “You need help finding anything?” he asks.

You look down at your arm and then back at the others surreptitiously. “Sans…” you hiss between your teeth. He drops your arm quickly, taking the hint from your eyes. “I think it would raise eyebrows if you helped me,” you mumble. “You’re already close enough to me as it is right now.”

He takes a step back. “You know, friendship and being nice is much harder when people suspect that we’re dating,” he murmurs.

“What are you two talking about?!” Undyne calls out. Your head whips around. Turns out, she’s talking to Frisk and Monster Kid.

“I’ll figure it out, I’ll call for help if I need it,” you say placatingly. Sans nods and flumps back down onto the floor. “When do you guys normally have dinner?” you ask hesitantly, looking at the clock. It proudly pronounces 4 o’clock. “If I start cooking now, it’ll be at 5ish.”

Sans shrugs. “Eh, Paps usually starts now, but then again, it usually takes three hours,” he chuckles.

You grin. “Maybe I’ll leave it for a bit then.”

“Or, we’ll come and distract you,” Sans says, grinning back at you. “We can make your cooking time stretch to an all-time low if you like.”

You laugh a little too loud. Not too loud for the joke, but too loud if you didn’t want to alert Undyne. “OI! What are you two talking about??” she yells out, this time directed at you.

“_____ said that she’d only take an hour to cook her recipe, so I told her we can help extend that time.”

Undyne grins. “Too right we can! MK!” she barks. “Get the stopwatch! We’re gonna make this take as looooooong as possible!!”

Sans gives you an apologetic grin. “Want me to help them, or you?”

There’s fear in your eyes at how enthusiastic Undyne is to waylay you in your quest of dinner making. But all the same, how long could they possibly drag you down to? “I’ll be fine on my own…” you say, not entirely convinced of the fact.

You were right to feel fear. One hour turned into two and a half. It was surprising it wasn’t more. Frisk flirted endlessly with you while making things difficult, a prime example being that they said “Is it hot in here, or just you?” while turning the hotplates up to their full temperature. Quickly rectified though, and their other jokes and flirts weren’t as bad. MK took to running around the kitchen at full pelt, knocking into cupboards and slamming into open drawers. The first few times, you were legitimately concerned for his safety and dropped what you were doing to see if he was alright. After the next six times, you realised that he didn’t even feel it. Papyrus started rearranging the cupboards and hid some of the saucepans, but he quickly stopped, feeling that this form of sabotage was too mean. He took up crying in the corner, feeling horrible about himself for being so mean. Undyne and Sans were the worst offenders. Undyne would scream at you to drop and give her 20 every minute or so to the point where you actually started to do it, just so she would stop yelling. Sans… Well, to say the least, you wish he’d stayed neutral. He would calmly make puns. In and of itself, that wouldn’t be so bad if he wasn’t also holding everything you needed to use 3 feet above your head. He wouldn’t drop the item until you made a pun pertaining to it.

Two and a half hours and a lot of puns and push-ups later, and you are all finally sitting down to a meal that should have been a lot easier to make. You slump down in your chair, exhausted. “That’s the last time I let you be on the opposing side,” you mumble to Sans. Everyone around the table collectively laughs, though Papyrus finishes with a sniffle.

“Hey, cheer up Papyrus, what you did was the kindest out of all of us!” Undyne chuckles.

Papyrus nods, still trying not to cry. “I KNOW THAT NOW, BUT… THAT’S NOT WHAT I’M CRYING ABOUT!!”

“Then what is it bro?” Sans asks.

“THIS- THIS FOOD OF ART… IT IS FAR TOO BEAUTIFUL TO EAT! AND YET I MUST EAT IT TO BE POLITE BUT IT IS TOO BEAUTIFUL AND IT IS A MASTERPIECE!!” He breaks down sobbing over his plate of spaghetti.

You look anxiously over at Sans. He’s happily eating, as is everyone else. “Don’t worry, _____, it’s the highest compliment he can give you.”

“Yeah, besides, this is better than my recipe,” Undyne calls happily. “How did you not turn it to ash?!”

“I don’t start fires when I cook, Undyne!” you say pointedly.

She laughs. “Yeah, that’s my point, how?!”

“I follow my own recipe that’s in my head, and it doesn’t involve turning the heat up to over 1000 degrees.” She opens her mouth to rebut that, but has no words. She quickly shuts it again. Sans smirks at her. You look over to see that Frisk and MK have finished their dinner with no complaints. “Do you guys like vegetables?” you ask.

“No! Vegetables are GROSS!” Monster Kid cries. Frisk nods in agreement and pouts, crossing their arms.

“How would you feel if I told you that your dinner had lots of vegetables in it?” you ask with a grin, ignoring Sans and Undyne glaring each other down across the table.

The shocked looks on the two kids’ faces is everything you hoped for and more. “B-b-but, it can’t have had vegetables in it!” MK cried out. “Vegetables are gross and dinner was nice!!”

You shrug. “Lots and lots of veggies.”

“No, but, it, um, what?! HOW??” Monster Kid cried. “You tricked me by making them nice!!”

You laugh. “You’ll have to tell your mum that for me. You too, Frisk.”

“Speaking of which, we need to get you kids off home,” Sans says, finally breaking the stare-off with Undyne. She fist pumps triumphantly. He’s met with a chorus of disappointed whines. “Hey, I don’t make the rules, Tori always wants you home by 8 on a school night Frisk. And you’re staying with them at the moment, aren’t you MK?”

“Yeah, my sister's really annoying and mum’s on holiday for a while.” You raise your eyebrows, but say nothing. It isn’t like you have a good family system at the moment.

“Yeah, and that’s why we’re your family! C’mere punk!” Undyne grabs him from across the table and wraps him in a hug.

“Teleport?” Frisk asks, eyes shining.

Sans looks over at you. “You wanna come drop these rascals off or am I doing it alone?”

You shake your head. “Uh, I’m fine with whatever, if you guys wanna teleport, that’s fine…” you say, grinning nervously.

Sans chuckles. “You’re in luck, kiddo. Alright you two, let’s go.” He pries MK out from Undyne’s vice-like grasp and grabs Frisk’s hand. “I’ll be back in a tick, so long as nothing gets too Frisky,” he says with a wink, and promptly vanishes.

Undyne blinks at the space Sans and the kids suddenly vacated. Then she turns to you. “So. _____. What’s Sans to you?”

You freeze up and slowly turn to look at her. “R-really? We’re doing this now?” She nods. “We’ve known each other for three days Undyne, hell, not even.”

“And? Frisk dated Papyrus after knowing him for twenty minutes.” Papyrus doesn't even acknowledge his name, still staring disparagingly at his uneaten dinner. Undyne cracks her knuckles menacingly. “Spill.” Your eyes widen in fear. She grins. “I’m not gonna hit you, don’t worry.” Her eyes darken slightly. “But I will punch Sans if he hurts you,” she mutters under her breath.

“You… You hardly even know me,” you mumble. “Why do you want to protect me?”

She shrugs. “Monsters are like that _____. We’re made of love, hope, compassion and magic basically. At least, that’s what the books in the library say. So we get attached easily.” She grins at you.

“We’re not dating by the way…” you mumble.

Undyne tries to hide her disappointment. “Oh, that’s ok.”

Sans reappears back into the chair he’d vacated moments before. “Did I miss anything?”


	23. Chapter 23

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: Contains mention of self-harm along with a couple suicidal thoughts and/or remarks. Please, stay safe and know you guys all matter, feel free to reach out to me if you need some sort of help or seek professional advice (in fact, do that last one either way)

Undyne abruptly stops talking, her eyes wide. You look over at Sans. “No, not really.”

He narrows his eyes at you and then Undyne. “Ok…” His voice implies that he doesn’t quite believe you.

Undyne looks at the clock. “Well, I best be off, you guys have fun!” she calls, halfway out the door before Papyrus can even croak out a goodbye.

Sans gives the broken doorway a bemused glance, watching Undyne sprint off into the distance. “Is it just me, or was there something a bit… fishy about the way she just left now?” He looks over at Papyrus expectantly. He doesn’t give any indication of even hearing the bad pun. “Aw, Papyrus?” Sans walks over to where his brother is still sadly staring at his plate of spaghetti. “You ok bro?”

Papyrus whimpers. “IT LOOKS SO GOOD…”

Sans smiles ruefully at you. “You broke him with good cooking.” He turns back to Papyrus. “Well, hows about I take a photo of it and then you can eat it, that way the masterpiece is preserved and you get to eat it.”

Papyrus’ tear-filled eyes look up at the two of you in hope. “YOU CAN DO THAT SANS?” he asks.

Sans pulls out his phone. “When Alphys did her upgrades, she put a camera in it. Probably a bunch of other stuff too,” he says, staring at the simple phone. “She put a jetpack in Frisk’s.”

“What?” You can’t quite imagine a phone that doubles as a jetpack. Sans just shrugs and takes a photo for Papyrus. Papyrus digs in hungrily.

Sans grins at you. “See, no problems.”

“Uhh, is the door gonna be a problem?” you ask, staring at it. The poor door. It swings haphazardly off its hinges, creaking as bent metal rubs against itself. Splinters cover one side of it; clearly where Undyne punched it in. “Will, will that even close properly?” you ask, walking over to it curiously. The hinges need to be changed, and, upon closer inspection, the door’s mechanism has been horrendously bent out of shape.

Sans walks over to look with you. He sighs. “Nope, we need to change the handle and the hinges, that much is obvious. We have a box of spare door parts in the drawer underneath the tv,” he says, giving the door some experimental pushes. You walk over to the drawer and pull it open. Inside, there are about 30 DVDs that look almost identical, the only difference being the roman numeral on the box art. Next to that is a small container of sprinkles, a small and mostly used pad of notepaper with a few pens on top of it. And finally, next to those there is indeed a large container, taking up half of the drawer, of spare door parts. Hinges, handles, locks and screws, along with a hammer and nails and a screwdriver.

“Do you want the whole container or just certain parts?” you ask, looking back at Sans. He’s pulling the screws out with his magic. “Why do you even have a screwdriver if you can just do that??”

Sans pauses what he’s doing. “Bring the whole box over, _____. Also, what’s a screwdriver?”

You carry the large box over with some struggle. “Uhh, a screwdriver, it’s the long pointy thing in there.”

Sans raises the equivalent of an eyebrow at you. “Oh, that. We use that to make holes in stuff.”

Papyrus walks around the two of you, carrying a huge stack of plates, balancing them perfectly. “Damn Papyrus, if the royal guard thing doesn’t work out, you could totally be a waiter,” you call after him.

He stops and swings around, the plates not even moving. “OH! SANS MUST HAVE TOLD YOU ABOUT HOW I AM PART OF THE GREAT ROYAL GUARD NOW! I HAVE SO MANY FRIENDS NOW THAT I’M PART OF THE ROYAL GUARD!! BUT…” He looks slightly nervously at you. “WELL, THERE IS TALK OF THE ROYAL GUARD BEING UNNECESSARY WHILE WE STAY HERE.”

You put the box down next to Sans who murmurs his thanks. “Well, like I said, you could be a great waiter if that ever happens.”

“WHAT EXACTLY IS A WAITER?” Papyrus asks, visibly excited as he puts the dishes down in the kitchen.

“Uh, they talk to a bunch of people, bring out people’s food and then clean up all the dishes and stuff.”

Papyrus’s eyes widen in glee. “SO… THAT MUST MAKE THEM EXTREMELY POPULAR!! EVERYONE LOVES FOOD AND THEY GET TO KNOW EVERYONE AND THEY ALSO CLEAN UP AFTER EVERYONE.” He frowns. “YOU KNOW, THAT SOUNDS EXACTLY LIKE WHAT I DO FOR SANS.”

“And you’re super popular with me, bro!” Sans calls out from the entrance.

Papyrus blushes slightly but keeps frowning. “SANS YOU DON’T COUNT! YOU’RE MY BROTHER!” He leans over to you and whispers, “He does count, but don’t tell him that!!” Papyrus whispering is basically any other person talking normally. You have no doubt that Sans heard him say it. You walk back to where Sans is just completing the door. Of course, the splintered part is still there, but the hinges are all fixed and screwed back into place and it closes as Sans demonstrates for you by shutting the door.

He looks up at the time. 7:30pm. “Hey Papyrus, isn’t it-”

“SANS IT IS TIME FOR MY BEDTIME STORY!” Papyrus pronounces loudly, walking off up the stairs.

Sans chuckles. “You can sit in if you want, but uh, I think you might prefer to read by yourself. Bedtime story consists of an old children’s book, an advanced puzzle construction manual and the week’s shopping receipts. Sends him to sleep straight away, but he wakes up if I stop partway through.”

You nod. “You know what, I think I might just read my own book.”

Sans’ eyes darken. “You mean _that_ book?”

You shift uncomfortably. “Well, it’s the only one I’ve got.”

Sans sighs. “You’ve got a point there. Where are you keeping it?”

“Under the second top slat of the bed.”

Sans breathes a sigh of relief. “Ok, he won’t find it there. Good.”

“SANS! I AM READY!!”

“I’m coming!” Sans yells back. “Enjoy yourself, _____.”

As you’re reading the book, you can’t help but see it in a new light. This whole book revolves around horrifying monsters, large demons covered in crisp white fur with grotesque horns, large animal-like figures that walk like humans and have mismatched limbs, and finally, skeletons. You get the funny feeling that you know the large demons with their white fur and twisted horns. It makes you feel sick that anyone could talk of Toriel and Asgore like that. And it twists a dagger in your heart that the book talks of skeletons as ruthless killers, stopping at nothing, frenzied as soon as they see a human. Sans and Papyrus are nothing like that. Neither are Toriel and Asgore. Or any of these monsters you now find yourself living with. The book… No, the author, they take the… Well, the humanity out of monsters. But given that humanity was what wrote the book… Maybe that’s a good thing. Not in the way the book says, but if you take the humanity out of a creature, what exactly are you left with? The best of the creature, or the worst of it?

A sigh comes from the doorway. “Enjoying yourself, _____?” Sans asks slightly darkly.

You look up at him, twisting a rueful smile on your face. “I forgot what it was like. I thought it was well, kinder. Nicer.”

Sans gives a dry laugh. “Ha. Got to know us a bit better, huh?”

You duck your head slightly. “Something like that.”

He gives a half-smile. “I guess that’s good. Means we aren’t as bad as we seem.” He points to the bed. “Mind if I come in?”

You smile slightly. “Your room too, isn’t it?”

He shrugs. “I suppose so. Got anything else on your mind?”

You pause, thinking. “Yeah. It’s almost impossible to have only one thing on my mind.” You smile tiredly up at him.

He plops himself down on the end of the bed. “Well, join the club. You wanna go first?”

You sigh. There’s a lot to think about. Start out easy. “You know, you love your brother a lot.”

Sans chuckles. “Yeah, he’s pretty cool. What makes you say that?”

You shrug. “Well, you must trust him a lot. You, uh… You mentioned last night that you don’t usually tell people stuff.”

Sans snorts derisively. “I don’t, you’re special.”

“And so’s Papyrus.”

Sans visibly tenses. “How do you mean?”

You shift slightly, putting your book down without caring for your page number. “Well, he… He mentioned you’d told him about dreams and you said they were like mine. And, well, if you don’t tell people things then that makes him pretty special too, right?”

Sans huffs a sigh. “So that’s been on your mind too, huh?” he asks thickly.

You shrug uncomfortably. “How could it not be, it means that, well… It means I’m not the only one.”

_Not the only one. Not alone. Safe._

Sans lets out a little chuckle. “I s’pose you can see it that way.”

“S-so…” You take a deep breath. “What… What’s it like when it happens for you?”

“I see it happening all over again,” he mutters darkly. “I watch Frisk walk up to him, I see that glint of red in their brown eyes, I see the plastic knife they kept in their hand. I see it covered in dust. Monsters’ dust. I watch as…” He stops abruptly. “Sorry. That memory’s off-limits.”

You swallow hard. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to… To- to do that.”

Sans gives a dry laugh. You see tears trickling down his face. “S’not your fault _____. How does it work for you?”

You take a shaky breath. “I watch it happen too. I hear what happened, I see it, I…” You put a hand to your ribs. They ache and tingle. “I feel it happen.”

Sans eyes your movement suspiciously. “Tell me if I’m pushing, but… Did someone hurt you? Like… Physically?”

You start to shake. Images flash before your eyes, bruises, broken bones, cuts, scars. Todd, Todd, a knife, a bat, a vase, a phone, your own razor slipping through your fingers as you watch rivulets of your own blood flow into the cracks of your hand. You can’t settle on any image.

“Sh*t, sh*t, ok… _____, can you hear me?” Sans asks as calmly as he can. You hear your name spoken softly.

_“_____, I won’t hurt you now. I just lost my temper, that’s all…” Todd said softly, gently touching the fresh bruise he’d given you less than half an hour ago. “You know what I’m like when I drink too much,” he teased, still highly intoxicated._

“_____!” Sans called with more urgency, grabbing your wrist. “Sh*t, I shouldn’t’ve asked…”

You open your eyes slowly, your breathing heavy and sweat running down your brow. “S-sans?” you mumble.

_Why did that memory hurt you? He was being nice._

_Nice._ Nice. Nice? What was ‘nice’? Whatever Todd was being then, it seemed nice. But… Somehow, it wasn’t. He’d hit you. He’d suddenly become gentle. Back then, it made you feel better about staying, saying ‘see, he’s not _that_ bad, he can be really nice! When he hurts me he apologises! It’s normal’. But now… That 180? It terrifies you.

“Oh thank god, I’m so sorry…” he murmurs, trying to keep his voice level. “I didn’t mean to… I…” He swallows. “What do you want me to do, how can I help you now?”

You hold up a hand and shake your head, gulping in air. “I- I’m fine, I- it wasn’t t-too bad…” you mumble shakily.

Sans looks at you, concerned. “You wanna talk about it?”

You shake your head. “Ah, it- it was j-just a memory… N-not a s-s-super bad one, j-just…” You take a deep breath again. “It’s not happening, I’m ok…” you mumble to yourself. One more deep breath and the images fade. Your trembling slows down and Sans sits across from you, still holding your wrist. He looks down at his hand. You follow his gaze. Between his fingers that grip your wrist, there’s a criss-cross of scars. You pull your arm away. “I-” you say, shaken and scared.

“Don’t,” Sans murmurs. “It’s ok. I get it.” He takes a deep breath. “There are times I wished the world would just stop. That I’d just… Vanish. Stop existing.” He gestures to your arm, which you cradle against yourself. “A cut like that would kill me. I only got 1 health point.”

“Health point?”


	24. Chapter 24

“Yeah, health points.” He eyes your reaction. “That, uh, clearly isn’t how you do things here.”

You shrug. “I know what they are. Video games have a health point system. But yeah, uh, not how we do things...”

Sans looks down at his hands, a small smile on his face. “Us monsters can see each others' health points whenever we go into fights or, uh, any sort of interaction if we want to, actually.” He looks up at you. “The standard number is about 20 for a human.” Sans’ eyes darken. “Well, a human that’s not f*cked up.”

You shiver slightly at the tone. “Uhh… Define ‘f*cked up’,” you mumble haltingly.

“Murderer, _____, someone who’s killed.” Sans pauses. “Though, I suppose it might change when humans get older. Or it might just vary from person to person. Or fighting might increase it, like with monsters.” Sans sighs. “It’s a lot more complicated up here.”

You smile ruefully. “You mentioned that the other night.”

“Monster’s health points vary from monster to monster too, but mainly because of training and the likes. It’s a general rule of thumb that we all start at 20. I got the short end of the stick.” He sighs. “You probably didn’t want to hear all of that.”

You shake your head. “N-no, it’s fine. It’s interesting.”

_And it’s distracting. A win-win situation._

Sans lets out a loose chuckle. “You really care about the tiny things, don’t you?”

“It’s not tiny to me, it’s huge. It’s all so… new.” You shrug, trying to forget the previous conversation and focus entirely on this one. You pause for a moment. “Sans, what’s my health point level?”

Sans rocks back on the bed with an intrigued look. “Really? You don’t know?”

You shrug, glad that he looks to be feeling a bit better. “Like I said, that’s not how we do things up here. How- uh, how exactly can you check?”

Sans scratches his skull. “Ah haha, um, well for a human… I’d have to uh, look at your soul…” Sans mumbles, blushing and clearly embarrassed.

You’re intrigued. “Would I be able to see it too?” you ask.

Sans looks taken aback. “You… You really don’t know how this works, do you?” You shake your head, bewildered and curious. “Well, uh, _____, see, the thing is, your soul is the culmination of your whole being. It’s basically who you are as a person, which includes your health points and uh… violence level, it’s all connected. To… Well, for someone to see a soul, you basically fight each other or it’s a voluntary action.”

You chuckle slightly. “From what you can do with magic, I’d rather not fight you.”

Sans laughs. “Good idea. Do you… You know what a violence level is, right?”

You shrug. “I can make a guess that it has something to do with violence, yeah?”

Sans nods. “As the name suggests. In the underground, it referred to killing, but uh, up here… Well, I’m not so sure.” He looks at you to see that you’re listening. “You see, I think that stats are changing up here, like… Not health points, I still have the exact same amount, but… you can be awful and villainous here and yet health points stay the same. You don’t get stronger if you kill. You don’t get more health. But you do ‘level up’, if you will.” Sans shrugs. “Maybe they just haven’t actually murdered anyone.”

You crumple your brow in confusion. “So, you know this how?”

Sans shrugs. “When we first got here, I scouted out the villages. There were some pretty awful people there, judging by their karma value.”

You feel your head spinning. “You can see karma as well??”

Sans chuckles at your confusion. “Yeah, it relates to the bad things a person has done. A higher karma value means a higher level of violence and that usually means higher health points. They had the karma and the violence level, but the same health points, give or take 10 or so. It just didn’t match up.”

You run a hand through your hair, trying to make sense of it. “So… They’re all completely different, yeah? Health and ‘levels’ and karma?” You shake your head. “Christ, it’s like we’re all just made up of numbers, ones and zeros.”

“What, like a game code?” Sans grins. “Nah, but video games do follow the same sort of principles. Only, levelling up is encouraged in games.”

You sigh. “That’s probably the best way to think about it, it’s like a video game. You kill, you level up. You level up, you get more health.” Sans nods. “Right, I think I got it.” You sigh. Then you remember what got you talking about this in the first place. “So, can you check my levels?”

Sans looks taken aback and starts blushing slightly again. “Ah, you, um, you realise that means sh-showing me your soul, right?”

You shrug. “I don’t know how to do it, but I’m sure you can help me with that. What’s the problem?”

Sans stutters. “Uh, I-I um, you know that the soul is the most vulnerable part of the body and is the entirety of your being and that seeing your soul would, would be uh… like, um…” He searches for a reasonable parallel. “I don’t know, like seeing you naked or something.”

You feel confused. “Well, it’s not though. It’s just seeing how much health I have and whether or not I’m an asshole, right?”

“R-right, but it’s also seeing your defining character trait and potential issues…” Sans stammers.

You shrug your shoulders. “Well, I’m interested in seeing that. I’m not worried about it. Besides, you won’t hurt me, I can tell that much about you.”

Sans looks somewhat trapped, bewildered and almost in awe. “You would intentionally show your soul to me out of… Curiosity?”

You think about it quickly. “Yeah, pretty much. So, uh, how do I do it?”

Sans’ face turns serious. “I don’t think humans can do it on their own. Would I be allowed to use magic?”

You start to have second thoughts on the idea. “M-magic? Will it hurt?”

Sans looks as though he’s in deep thought. “Well, it shouldn’t hurt. It won’t be like the teleporting thing, don’t worry. It will probably feel like I’m pulling on your ribcage.”

The response somewhat baffles you, but that doesn’t sound too bad. Your curiosity overwhelms your panic. “S-sure, go ahead.” His hand glows a gentle blue colour and you feel something tugging at… Well… It feels like it’s tugging at everything. Mostly your brain. That’s your first feeling. You close your eyes and focus on it. Slowly, the tugging on your brain stops and you only feel a pull from your chest. And then the pulling feeling stops completely and you feel strangely warm. You open an eye. In the middle of the gap between you and Sans, there’s a bright red heart. It glows brightly and hovers. A gentle humming sound emanates from the heart and echoes softly around the room. It's mesmerising. Bewitching. Almost angelic. Your eyes widen. “Is that-?” you whisper. Sans nods mutely, his eyes fixed on the heart. “What does it mean?” you ask softly. You don’t know why, but watching it makes your voice soften, almost reverently. You stare at it intently. “Are all souls like this?”

Sans shakes his head. “No… Monster souls are white unless there’s magic being used on it. They’re also well, upside down to this.” He watches it in awe. “It’s beautiful…”

Something about the way he says that makes you blush, though it’s unnoticeable as both of your faces are bathed in a gentle red glow. “Th-thanks?” you mumble, uncertain what he’s referring to as beautiful, the soul or whatever information he’s getting from it. You try your question again. “What does it mean?”

This time, Sans answers. “The red means that your defining trait is individuality,” he murmurs, still gazing at it. “It’s so bright… I don’t know that I’ve ever seen or heard of a soul so bright.”

You look at him nervously. “Is that a good thing?” you murmur, wide-eyed.

Sans nods. “It usually means the soul is healthy, but…” A shadow of worry and fear crosses over his face. “There are a lot of cracks.”

Fear clutches your heart and the soul flickers accordingly. You don’t notice, but Sans does. “That… That’s bad, right?”

Sans continues to stare at it, almost puzzled. “Cracks just mean that you’ve been through a lot. But!” He cuts into your thoughts before they have time to begin spiralling out of control. “But the glow… The brightness, that… It doesn’t make complete sense, but… I think the brightness is the strength of your individuality. And cracks can heal. Mine did. Mostly,” he mumbles.

You steady your breathing and think on that. _Cracks can heal. That’s a relief…_

“Your soul is surprisingly well-tuned to your body…” he murmurs. “It shows your emotions. Frisk’s doesn’t.”

“You’ve seen Frisk’s soul?” you ask.

Sans shrugs. “I watched them battle with other monsters. Hard to not see a soul then.” He pauses. “Do you want to know your stats?”

You nod, gazing at your soul. _All of that, that is you. That is your essence._

“Well… I can’t say I completely understand it actually.”

The soul flickers again as your heartbeat quickens. “Is that good or bad?” you ask quickly.

Sans scratches his skull. “Well, actually, in this case, it’s good. It just doesn’t make any sense. Your Karma is in the negative, which can happen. Papyrus’s is negative too. It basically means the world owes you something good,” Sans says with a chuckle. “Not how Karma actually works, but basically it means you're on the right track and you’ve done nothing wrong. Or…” Sans shakes his head. “Well, nevermind. You’re level 1 which is what we all start on, so no worries there either. But your health… Not your health points, your actual health points are right on the mark of 20, so again, perfectly normal. But… Your health bar -a percentage bar that shows the points- it… it shows the potential to go up to 109. Which should be impossible...” he murmurs, still gazing transfixed at the soul.

“Is- is that bad?” you whisper nervously. The soul flickers gently.

Sans shakes his head. “No, it’s just not normal. Should be impossible. But if anything, it’s good for you. I suppose if your points get above 20 you can accommodate them.”

“I… I don’t really know what that means, but I- I don’t think that now is the time to ask…” you mumble. You both sit quietly for a moment, staring at the soul, listening to its song.

“_____?”

“Yes?”

“I don’t think you realise just how special this is.”

You shrug. “Probably not,” you murmur.

“It’s… It’s incredibly rare to see the soul of someone truly, especially outside of your family. Much less a human soul. And… And your soul is… It’s incredible.”

“I… I don’t really understand what I’m seeing,” you murmur, “but I think I can see why you called it beautiful.”

A shadow of sadness pauses fleetingly on Sans’ face. “You didn’t think it was beautiful to begin with, _____?”

You shake your head slightly. “I- I don’t know what I feel about it. It’s all so strange.”

Sans slowly looks to your face as it's bathed in the light of your own soul. “My god…” he whispers, so softly you barely hear it.

“What?” you ask, the soul flickering again, worry in your voice.

Sans blinks. “N-nothing,” he mumbles. “Just…” He shakes his head. “To see someone’s soul is to see all of them. The soul reflects the person, and the person reflects the soul.” He smiles slightly. Almost ruefully. “That being said, your soul is beautiful.” You don’t quite know how to respond to that. You aren’t quite sure what he means. He shakes his head again, looking back to the soul. “Ah, don’t worry about it, _____. Everything is fine.” He looks down at his hands. “Seeing another person’s soul… It makes you feel closer to them. Like you know them better.” His hands light up a faint blue colour. There’s a soft pop sound and a softer white glow appears, lighting Sans’ face. “I figure, well, I guess you can see mine.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now, this chapter. Guys. I honestly had no idea where this was going to go when I wrote it and it ended up somewhere great. And yes, there will be one more chapter before "the next day" hits. Again, not sure where it's going to go, but hopefully somewhere great as well. Also, before I get people saying that "red soul means determination" I would like to point out that all humans have determination, its a "human trait" not a soul trait. Also, determination is yellow. A Tumblr blog called NoChocolate did a good post about the theory of the individuality trait which you can find on their blog. I felt as though it would be the most appropriate trait as this is a self-insert. Being yourself is the biggest characteristic of that, is it not?


	25. Chapter 25

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: mentions of physical abuse and insinuation of rape. Nothing awful, no scenes or anything graphic, just a small mention of both. Thought you guys might like to know.

You peer around your soul to see his. It glows a pristine white colour and floats upside down to yours. The red light from your own soul reflects back on its glassy surface, tinging it pink. Its white light pierces through the heavy red glow of your soul. You stare at it in wonder. “Do you like it, _____?” he asks softly, gazing at you the same way he looked at your soul.

You blush slightly, not worrying about whether he saw it or not. You know he can’t. Your face is covered in a red glow anyway. “O-of course I do!” you breath out. There’s something… Exquisite about it and you can’t quite put your finger on it. You look in closer. There’s a thin crack running through it.

Sans breathes out a sigh of relief. “You know, you’re the only person to see my soul.”

Even though you aren’t truly aware of the implication of that, you can feel the gravity of the situation. “Not… Not even Papyrus?” you mumble.

Sans shakes his head. “We’ve sparred, but my soul is too weak to appear in battle. It has to be intentional. And, well…” Sans hangs his head slightly. “I know he would ask about the crack. The one person who I would show my soul to and he’s the person that can’t know about that crack.”

You watch the two souls. The hum that emanates from your soul is joined by a lower hum from Sans’. They harmonise in a perfect fifth. The harmony fills the air and grows louder, entrancing you, embracing you. The souls almost seem to gravitate towards one another. No! They actually are moving towards one another, you can see it. “What happens when two souls touch?” you ask gently.

Sans might not have been able to see you blush, but you can see him blushing quite brightly. “Uhh… ah hah, um… W-why do you ask?”

You point at the souls. “Watch them,” you murmur.

He does. After a few seconds, he sees what you saw before. “Oh f*ck…” he mumbles, pulling his soul back. He gives you an apologetic and somewhat embarrassed grin. “Sorry about that.”

You shake your head, bewildered. “What?”

Sans blushes again. “Souls, uh… They probably shouldn’t touch. Not like that. Not now.”

You look at him curiously. “Why not?”

Sans looks flustered. “Y-you don’t know?? Your parents didn’t… You know, teach you about that sort of thing??”

“N-no? They didn’t tell me anything about souls! The only thing I’d ever heard about souls is that they stay after death and go to a different world.”

Sans puts his head in his hands. “Uhh… how do I say this…” he mumbles.

“Bluntly?” you pro-offer, knowing that you might not understand any other way.

“It’s uh, it’s one of the ways monsters… you know…” he blushes. You raise an eyebrow. “Have children,” he mumbles.

“Oh, so sex?” you ask bluntly.

Sans looks down, embarrassed. “That.” You decide not to ask why the souls were moving closer on their own accord. And thankfully, he didn’t seem to realise that it wasn’t just his soul moving. Sans looks up at you again. “I’m, uh, I’m gonna put them away again if that’s all good?”

You nod. “They’re pretty, but they belong inside us, right?” you ask. Sans nods and his soul suddenly vanishes. A soft glow appears within his jacket and then it, too, disappears. Sans gives your soul one last, long look. Then you feel another strange sensation. It isn’t like the pulling feeling you had when he took your soul out. This time… Well, at first it feels like someone is firmly holding you. All of you. It’s like a hug but more of you, not just your body. Then a rushing sensation as if you were standing out in the fresh wind. And then, it slowly fades. You look down at your chest. It glows red. You watch it as it slowly, very slowly fades too. You sigh contentedly. It feels better with your soul back in your body. And even though nothing seemed to have happened, even though you just looked at it… You feel a lot closer to Sans. It’s like you know him more… intimately. Closely. Like family. Family… Papyrus! He had never seen Sans’ soul because of the crack. What was that crack?

“Hey, _____. We should probably get to sleep,” Sans mumbles, getting out his phone and checking the time.

You nod. “Ok, well, uh, can you leave for a minute? I’ve got to get changed.”

Sans lets out a small chuckle. “Alright. Don’t worry, I’ll do it, but it’s kinda funny that you get antsy about that when I’ve seen your soul. Humans are weird,” he grins.

You roll your eyes. “Yeah, yeah, now get out.”

You had to admit, it was strange to sleep with someone again. Of course, you hadn’t always slept with Todd. In fact, by the end of your relationship, you slept alone most nights. It was easier that way. Less painful. With Sans by your side though, cuddled up against you like a child, it’s calming. You can remember why you enjoyed having a relationship. But that’s not why he’s here. He’s here to look after you, to help you. And it’s working. Papyrus was right, it was much easier to sleep with something warm that has a heartbeat. Someone to keep you safe from yourself. So it was with surprise that you woke up in the early hours of the morning with Sans thrashing about in your arms. “Sans?” you whisper, trying to stop his arms from jerking. There’s sweat beading on his skull and his body twitches violently.

“Papyrus… don’t… Frisk is… no….” he moans softly, clearly distraught.

You feel yourself panicking slightly. “Sans!” you whisper harshly, pinning his arms to his side as you shake him from side to side. “Wake up!” There’s a purple haze visible from under one of his eyes. It gives you an unsettled feeling. His chest has a faint glow to it; it’s his soul. You focus on your own soul, picturing it in your mind. A faint red glows from your chest in response. It calms you. You feel stronger, more… Determined. “Sans, it’s just a dream, it’s not real,” you murmur. “Wake up, come on…” You shake him more vigorously. “Sans!” you say, slightly louder and slightly more desperate.

He wakes up with a start, his eyes flying open. “_____! Are you ok?” he asks, looking worried. His left eye is glowing a deep blue-purple colour.

“Me? No no no, are _you_ ok?” you ask, frazzled.

“You sounded scared, I thought you were in trouble?” Sans asks, still concerned.

You shake your head. “No, you were having a nightmare. I was trying to wake you up.”

Sans’ eyes go black. “Oh.” He goes still. “Did I wake you?”

You nod. “Yes, but that’s ok, you needed to wake up. It- it’s not real, Papyrus is sti-”

Sans bolts upright. “Papyrus! Is he ok?!” he cries out wildly.

“Sans, it was just a dream. He’s fine,” you say softly. Sans flings himself out of the bed and runs out of the room. A few moments later and he suddenly appears back on the bed, melting into the bed in relief.

“Oh thank god he’s ok…” he mumbles, close to tears.

“Are you ok?” you murmur, going back to sit with him.

His hands shake. “No.”

You sit up next to him and he leans on you. “You… uh, want to talk about it?” you mumble, wrapping an arm around his shoulders.

Sans goes quiet for a moment. “I’ve told you bits and piece about it before…” he mumbles. “The, the resets, the one I remembered… I...” He shuts his eyes and his body shudders slightly. “Frisk wasn’t like Frisk is now… They were… wrong. They weren’t fully human, they were just… wrong. They always held a little plastic toy knife and they never put it down…” Sans starts to tremble in your arms. “They shambled about and were always covered in dust…” A small sob wracks through Sans. “And I... I watched. I just f*cking watched. I didn’t do anything, I just-" He takes a deep breath. "I’d promised to watch over Frisk and to not hurt them. I was a fool... Monsters died. And yet they’re still alive today. Monsters… Monsters died...” He breaks off, his voice quivering. He takes a shaky breath. “I didn’t realise how close Frisk got… I thought, I thought Papyrus would see danger and run… I didn’t think that he… that he would…” Sans swallows. “I see it happening. Every. Goddamn. Night.” His voice turns bitter and hard. “I know what I remember, but my dream is different. I remember running through the woods, running through the town, stopping just short of where Frisk would see me. They stood mere metres away from my brother, holding their f*cking knife. I was too stunned to say a word. And Papyrus… He welcomed them. He talked to them, he told them to come closer to him, he held out his arms…” You can feel Sans’ tears soaking into your clothes. “I can’t believe they dropped the knife and hugged him…” He’s trembling. “But that’s never what my dream is. When I live it again, it’s different. My memory is skewed.” He clings onto you, his voice turning dark. You know he’s trying to keep himself in the present. “I run through the woods, panting. I run through the town, slowing with every step. I see Frisk with their knife, standing above my brother. Papyrus kneels with wide-open arms. They don’t drop the knife. Their soul lights up in front of them. I yell to Papyrus, but no sound ever comes out of my lips. Frisk… They…” He chokes on his tears before swallowing them down. He clings to you tighter than ever, as though you’re his anchor. “They f*cking slash him. I scream. I make no sound. They stand over his dust as it blows in the wind. His head falls to the ground, separate from his body. It, too, disintegrates.” His voice is cold. It’s hard. “In my dreams, it always happens just like that. And they smile at me, their red eyes gleaming. In that moment, the knife looks real.” Sans curls up into you. “I didn’t get to that last look tonight. That look haunts me. Thank you,” he mumbles.

You cradle his head in your arms. “He’s fine and alive now, Sans. It’s ok. It’s just a… a messed up dream,” you mumble, rocking him slightly. “It feels real, but it’s not. It’s not real..." you murmur, thinking about what you do to calm yourself. "It's not real, he can’t hurt you anymore.”

Sans looks up at you. “He? Frisk isn’t a boy…” Sans looks at you curiously.

You shiver slightly. “I… I was just saying what I tell myself when I have those dreams… Sorry.”

“Who is he?”

If Sans had asked at any other time, you might not have answered. But in the early hours of the morning, there is no thinking, there is no sense of filtration of your thoughts. “My ex. Todd.” You feel numb. You have no anxiety. No pain. You just feel numb. Early morning numbness. You let out a hollow laugh. There’s no joy in it. “That’s the first time I’ve said his name in a while. It usually feels like if I say it, it makes him real again. Like he’d show up at the door right now.” You shrug. “Didn’t this time.”

“He’s the one that screwed up your soul?”

“Not just my soul,” you say. You can hear the bitterness in your voice.

His left eye flickers between yellow and blue so quickly that it seems the eye is both colours at once. “What did he do to you,” he mutters.

Your arms fall limply to your sides. “You mean the last time he hurt me or in general?” you ask listlessly. What point is there from hiding it from Sans? He was bound to find out eventually. In the early hours of the morning, nothing seems real anyway.

“Start small, or I might end up killing him,” Sans mutters.

“The last time he hurt me before I left, he slapped me across the face a few times, broke three of my ribs and then cracked another one. Probably cracked something in my spine as well. I’m not sure,” you mumble numbly. If you weren’t feeling so apathetic, you would have been surprised that you hadn’t had an attack. “Then he called the medics. Took care of me enough to be feeling ok again, only so he could f*ck me.” The edges of a fuzzy memory of that night come scrabbling to the surface of your mind. Your ribs start to ache again. “If I talk about him anymore, I’ll go down into an attack.” You can feel the panic ebbing at the corner of your mind and your heart rate speeds up quickly. 

Sans looks you dead in the eyes. “If I ever see him, he’ll have more than a few broken ribs,” he hisses icily. “But… let’s not have an attack right now?” His voice softened again and his eyes both went back to normal.

You smile wryly. “Yours was enough for tonight, was it?”

He nods. “I think so. Hot chocolate?” he asks.

You give him a nod. “Sounds good. I’m not going back to sleep just yet.”

Sans gives you a funny look. “_____, you know, I was thinking about the teleporting thing. Maybe you just weren’t used to it enough for a long-distance trip.”

You let out a sarcastic laugh. “Ya think?”

Sans chuckles. “Ok, of course, you weren’t. But I was thinking, maybe a shorter distance wouldn’t be so bad?”

You look over at him. “You mean you want to risk it because you’re too lazy to walk down the stairs?” He’s about to protest that, but you stop him. “Sure. Why not. I don’t particularly feel like walking down there either.”

He gives you an amused smile and holds out his hand. “Second time lucky?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Everyone's finally opening up all over the place! It's great!! It's... It's really terrible. But... introducing a NEW CHARACTER NEXT CHAPTER!! Guess who, darlings~!


	26. Chapter 26

You take a deep breath and then grab his hand. The blackness pushes around you a bit, but instead of rushing wind and terror, you feel a gentle breeze and only a hint of fear. Not even a second goes by before you and Sans reappear downstairs in the kitchen. You tumble forwards, but his grasp on your hand helps you balance. “Are you ok, _____?” he asks nervously.

Your vision is a little blurry, but after a few rapid blinks, it clears and you feel perfectly fine. You nod. “Yeah. I need to work on the landing though,” you say, giving him a wobbly grin.

He chuckles. “Yeah, of course. Frisk still falls over sometimes,” he says, grinning. “Now, about those hot chocolates…” He moves over to the cupboard. “Go sit down, I’ll be there in a minute.” You nod and sit down at the table, waiting patiently. A few minutes later, Sans reappears, holding two mugs. He places a dark blue mug in front of you. “Anything on your mind?” You give him a dirty look. He chuckles nervously. “Ok, right, that, anything on your mind worth thinking about?”

You shrug. “Not really, what about you?” you ask, not expecting anything either.

“I was thinking about what we’re gonna do tomorrow actually.” Sans looks up at the clock. “Or, today, rather.” He sighs. “If you aren’t too tired tomorrow, I was thinking about taking you to see a, uh, friend of ours.” He shakes his head slightly. “He’s mostly Alphys’s friend, but Papyrus loves him, like, he’s his biggest fan.” Sans sighs. “I’m not sure I quite get it, but whatever makes my brother happy.”

“What’s he like?” you ask, sipping your drink.

Sans chuckles. “Whatever I say won’t be enough to prepare you for him. His name is Mettaton and he’s a robot. But uh, even though he’s a robot, he’s got hair, and humanoid legs and arms, he’s…” Sans pauses, trying to describe this robot person accurately. “He’s flamboyant. He’ll like you.”

You look up in slight surprise. “Really? What makes you say that?”

Sans grins at you. “Who wouldn’t like you?” He sighs. “I suppose you want actual reasons though.”

You nod. “That, uh, that would be nice, yes.”

“Well, for starters, you’re a human. Secondly, you cook. He loves cooking. Thirdly, you mentioned you can play piano. Anything and everything creative is a ‘Mettaton thing’. Also, you’re just generally nice. Winning combination right there.” You nod in an attempt at understanding. Sans takes another sip of his drink. “_____, do you sing?” Sans asks.

You chuckle awkwardly. “Ah ha ha, no, not unless I’m in the shower,” you say with a small grin. Now that you’ve said it, you realise just how gross you feel. You haven’t had a shower in 3 days. It’s a wonder you don’t smell. “I should have a shower in the morning,” you mumble.

Sans shrugs. “I mean, it’s morning now.”

You stare down into your hot chocolate and swish what’s left of it around the mug. “Yeah, I know. But I was thinking that we’d be getting a bit more sleep after this.”

Sans looks up at you with tired eyes. “You really feel like going back up there?” he asks, resting on his arms as he leans onto the table.

You shake your head. “No, not really.” You check the clock. It’s 3:30. “Sans?” There’s no response. You look over at him. He’s fallen asleep at the table. You sigh and look over at the couch in the living room only a few paces away. Well, you don’t want to go back upstairs, do you?

You wake up to a high-pitched scream coming from upstairs. Loud footsteps come thumping down the stairs and the screaming becomes clearer. “OH MY GOD SANS! WHERE IS HE! WHERE IS _____!! WHERE ARE THEY?? ARE THEY DEAD, DID SOMEONE TAKE THEM?! OHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGOD!!!” The screaming stops abruptly and you open an eye slowly to check why Papyrus has gone quiet. He’s staring at you. “_____?” he asks.

“Mnyes?” you mumble as you sit up.

“OH MY GOD, I AM SO GLAD THAT YOU ARE ALRIGHT!” Papyrus cries out, sweating. “I THOUGHT SOMETHING HAD HAPPENED! WHY ARE YOU SLEEPING DOWN HERE?”

You rub your face sleepily, remembering why again. “Nightmares, Sans an-”

“OH MY GOD, WHERE IS SANS?!” Papyrus starts to work himself up into screaming again. You shush him and point out to the kitchen. Papyrus clears the room in a few quick strides. “SANS!! WHY ARE YOU SLEEPING ON THE TABLE?!”

You walk out into the kitchen again. Sans is right where you had left him early this morning. He opens his eyes slowly and looks around. “Oh. You’ve gotta be kitchen me right now,” Sans says with a wink.

Papyrus lets out a frustrated yell. “ARGH!! WHY ARE YOU HERE?? YOU SHOULD BE IN _____’S ROOM! WHY ARE YOU BOTH DOWN HERE??”

Sans looks up at Papyrus. “Nightmares and stuff, didn’t wanna wake you.” He grins. “I guess I better ‘ketchup’ to the time and get myself breakfast.”

Papyrus yells again. You hide a snicker behind your hand. It is rather amusing to watch Papyrus’s reaction to Sans’ puns. “Can I, uh, go have a shower?” you ask softly.

Sans nods. “Course ya can.”

“I SHALL PROBABLY HAVE LEFT BY THE TIME YOU ARE BACK, _____! SO I SHALL SAY GOODBYE NOW!” He clears his throat. “GOODBYE!”

You chuckle softly. “Goodbye Papyrus, I hope you have a good day.”

“WOWIE! I SHALL HAVE A GREAT DAY NOW YOU HAVE TOLD ME TO! NYEH HEH HEH!”

You smile to yourself as you walk upstairs. Papyrus holds a special place in your heart, even if you met him only a few days ago. Ten minutes later, you walk back downstairs, still trying to work out why skeletons would own ordinary human shampoo. “Sans?” you call out, still trying to towel dry your hair.

“Yeah? What’s up?” Sans calls from right behind you.

You jump. “Don’t do that!” you cry out.

He grins. “Sorry, old habits die hard. It’s fun. So what’s the problem?”

“Why do you have shampoo?” you ask.

Sans chuckles. “Well, a couple of reasons. One, because Papyrus likes to use it and pretend he has hair, two, it gets used because Undyne comes over so often. And now you’re here, so it’s lucky we have it.”

You nod, still holding the damp towel. “Should I put this in the wash, or…?”

“Wash? Oh, we just use magic.”

You roll your eyes and hand Sans the towel. “Of course, magic. How did I not guess that?” you say, your voice dripping with sarcasm.

Sans’ eyes light up. “Your sarcasm is brutal and extremely welcome,” he chuckles, handing the towel back to you, completely dry. “Just chuck it back in the bathroom.” You quickly run back and place it on a shelf near the door, right where you had found it. There had been an anxious debate about whether or not to use it and eventually you decided that you need to dry yourself with something. “Hey _____?” Sans says, looking at your clothes.

“What?” you ask, feeling a tad bit self-conscious.

“You know you’re meeting a movie star today, right?” he says, grinning at you.

You feel a lot more self-conscious. “Should… Should I wear something different, or… What should I do?” you ask helplessly.

Sans can see the panic on your face. “Hey, don’t sweat it!” he says and you can’t tell if he intended the pun about your sweatshirt. “I’m going in this. You wanna walk, or shall we try to arrive in style?”

You ponder that for a minute. “How far is it?”

Sans shrugs. “It’s a little way past the school.”

You aren’t sure whether it’s a good idea to do that in one go. “Can we, uh, do smaller hops?” you ask.

Sans thinks on it. “I don’t see why not.”

“Do I need anything?” you ask quickly.

Sans shakes his head, holding out his hand again. “Nah, he’s got pretty much everything he could ever want,” he chuckles. “Let’s go.”

You made it to this mystery robot’s door in four smaller jumps and by the time you stopped at the front of his door, you felt a little dizzy and your stomach churned a bit, but it was nothing like the first time you had tried to teleport. “Do we knock, or…?” you whisper, looking up at the grand door.

Sans rolls his eyes. “Yeah. You know, he used to live with Alphys in her lab, but cuz she wanted- uh, sorry, ‘had’ to stay down there with the amalgamates, he moved up here on his own. And he built this grandiose house.”

You chuckle nervously as Sans knocks. It echoes slightly. “That wasn’t at all ominous, was it?”

Sans grins at you. “Glad you still have your humour.”

“Just a minute, darling!” a voice yells out from inside. It sounds electronic and posh. The door swings open and there stands a man whom you presume to be Mettaton. He stands above you by a good foot or so, possibly more considering the bright pink boots he’s sporting. They have incredibly high heels. He wears skin-tight black leggings and a strange belt, or is that a midriff? Either way, he has huge shoulder pads that somehow don’t look old-fashioned and a bright pink hard case just under it. His arms are made of metal and he has long sweeping hair, cutting across his face. “Why, Sans and _____!” he cries out, opening his arms theatrically.

“How did you-”

“Ah ta ta!” He puts a finger to your lips and you jerk back reactively. “No need to ask questions, darling! Alphys told me all about you two!” Mettaton winks.

Sans rolls his eyes. “If she told you anything about us dating, that’s rubbish.”

Mettaton looks over at Sans disinterestedly. “Oh darling, I know. She puts everyone together. Besides, if I had believed it, you would already be featured on my latest show!” He turns around. “Follow me, darling! I assume that Sans has brought you to me, the most famous star in all of monsterkind.”

Sans rolls his eyes and mimics Mettaton talking with his hand. You start to get the feeling that he doesn’t particularly like Mettaton. He is a bit extra, but at least he doesn’t seem to put up with nonsense. You step into the house. You don’t even have time to take in the height of the ceiling before he calls down the hallway. “Coming!” you call back, rounding the corner quickly.

Mettaton is standing rather provocatively, leaning on a small, round table that holds two glasses of champagne. “My, you are prompt aren’t you! You would make a wonderful co-star,” he muses. Sans gives you a small smirk that says ‘I told you so’.

“W-what makes you say that?” you ask, flustered as you realise you haven’t even brushed your hair.

“You have such a unique personality and your soul practically radiates with individuality!” he cries. “Do you have any hobbies?” he asks, taking out a pen and shifting his hand off the piece of paper on the table.

“Uhh…?” Everything is moving far too quickly.

“Mettaton, geez, this is her fourth day here and she doesn’t even know what you are!” Sans exclaims.

Mettaton gives you both a large grin. “Maybe Alphys had something right,” he murmurs softly. You bristle slightly while Sans doesn’t even react.

“I heard that,” you mutter.

Mettaton raises his eyebrows. “My, you have good hearing! That speaks well of your singing voice!” He scribbles something down on the paper. Sans looks at you, confused. You shake your head almost imperceptibly. “Do you know what I am, _____?” Mettaton asks, looking hard at you.

“N-no?” you stammer. “Well, I mean, I know you’re a robot!” you splutter, trying not to insult him. He looks somewhat pleased and scribbles something else on his paper.

“And do you know what robots are made of, _____?” he asks.

“Metal…” you say slowly. Mettaton looks at you expectantly.

_What’s the answer to everything else around here?_

“... And magic,” you say, somewhat confidently.

His eyes light up. Clearly, you were correct. “Yes indeed darling! I am impressed!” He scribbles on the paper again. “Doctor Alphys created me. A robot with an artificial monster’s soul!”

Sans coughs. “Cuh-that’snotpossible-ahm.”

You snicker ever so slightly, but stop when Mettaton narrows his eyes at Sans. “What would you know?” he sneers slightly.

Sans sighs. “Look, keep up your appearance out there, but Alphys told me exactly what you are. She made the body, but you were a ghost monster,” Sans explains calmly.

Mettaton glares at Sans flatly. “I hope,” he says in a slightly icy tone, “that you are not implying that I am anything less than what I am.”

Sans shakes his head. “Nah, I’m not. I’m just saying that lies don’t fly too well with me. Don’t spin them to me.” He gives Mettaton a laidback grin. “Besides, I don’t tell the lies, I just don’t tell the truth either. Your secret’s safe, don’t worry.”

Mettaton nods stiffly. “Well, I suppose he’s not wrong,” he sniffs slightly. “I hope this does not diminish your thoughts of me.”

You shake your head, wide-eyed. “N-no, not at all!”

Mettaton picks up the two glasses of champagne. “Do you drink?” he asks you, holding a glass out.

You shake your head. “No, I’ve seen what that sh*t can do to people.”

Sans gives you a sideways look with a slightly raised eyebrow. Mettaton nods. “I see.” He looks over at Sans. “I would offer it to you, but I know you would prefer the ketchup that’s in the fridge.” Mettaton tilts his head to the right, presumably to the kitchen. Sans walks off with a nod to Mettaton out of courtesy. Mettaton links his arm through yours, still holding the champagne. “Darling, I’ll show you through to the lounge area.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We have a new character!! Mettaton is a lot of fun to write with, I must admit. Not to worry, this won't turn into Mettaton is always at Sans' house, Undyne, MK and Frisk come around too. I try and get all the characters coming and going like I would imagine they'd do in such a small community that was brought closer together by Frisk. 
> 
> As a side-note/law bomb, Mettaton actually was a ghost monster (he lived next door to his cousin Napstablook, a house which can be entered by using the mystery key bought from Bratty and Catty) and he met Alphys through an anime fan club as she was the only other member. She offered to make him a body so that he might become fully corporeal. He left Blooky behind to follow his dreams of becoming a star. Alphys then showed him off to Asgore as an entertainment/human eradication robot, fronting to have created the soul herself. This impressed Asgore enough to put her on as the royal scientist (there had been no royal scientist since Gaster as he was such a genius and since almost everyone forgot about Gaster, it's possible that there was either a lingering feeling about 'needing a royal scientist' or Asgore thought "hey we should have a royal scientist" again for the 'first' time). I can explain a lot about Mettaton if there are comments and theories and stuff if you'd like to chat in the comments 😊


	27. Chapter 27

The lounge area has a polished wooden floor. That’s the first thing you notice. Nowhere else has had a polished wood. Sure, wood, but it wasn’t polished. There is a white chaise lounge sitting squarely in the centre point of the wall. Everything else in the room draws your eye to it. Even the grandfather clock is turned to face it. A small, wooden table sits beside it. “Take a seat, my dear!” Mettaton says, flourishing his hand towards the lounge. You timidly pad over, your feet squeaking slightly on the shining floors. “Do you like it? It is rather messy, I’m afraid,” he chatters politely. You can’t see a single thing that’s out of place. “I have my cousin staying with me at the moment, they should be around somewhere.”

“O-oh, ok,” you murmur. You wonder if they’re anything like their cousin.

Mettaton sits down next to you, sipping one of the glasses of champagne. “Now, darling, down to business. Why did you come to see me?”

You shrug and shift awkwardly in your seat. “I, I don’t really know, Sans is just kinda, taking me around to meet everyone?” you suggest.

Mettaton nods. “Ah, I see.” He pulls out the sheet of paper again, carefully putting both of his glasses down. “What are your interests and hobbies?”

You chuckle slightly and he quirks his eyebrow in your direction. “O-oh, it’s nothing, Papyrus just, he asked the same question, just with a little less…” You wave your hand, trying to think of the word. “A little less eloquently.”

Mettaton chuckles. “Of course darling, not everyone can be quite so fabulous as I. Papyrus is spectacular in his own special way.” He takes another sip of his champagne. “Now, hobbies?”

You look at the sheet of paper uneasily. “Why are you taking notes on me?”

Mettaton gives you a small smirk. It doesn’t help the uneasy feeling. “Why, who knows? You might be the next big thing here in this world! And if you are, then I would love to help you on that journey.”

“You mean use her for screen time?” Sans asks, leaning against the doorway.

Mettaton scoffs. “Of course not, I get enough screen time on my own, thank you very much!” He turns back to you. “Darling, I am not trying to impose and I’m not trying to capitalise off of you,” he says, shooting a pointed look at Sans. “I am merely interested in getting to know you.”

Sans shrugs. “If that were the case, you wouldn’t be jotting down notes.”

Mettaton gives Sans a one-eyed glare, picking up the champagne again. “I am naturally a show business sort of person. Just because I keep a running list of aspiring people’s attributes does not entail that I mean to use them.” You get the distinct feeling that Sans doesn’t like Mettaton. He continues on. “Besides, I have a list of your skills too, you know.”

Sans pushes himself off of the doorframe. “Oh really?” He chuckles. “I’d love to hear what my talents are,” he chortles sarcastically.

Mettaton sighs dramatically and elegantly rises to his feet. He walks over to a small filing cabinet by a simple door. He starts to thumb through the folders. “I have far too many files in here,” he mumbles. “Sabina, Saffy, Sally, Samara, Samuel, Sandy... Sans!” He pulls out a small folder triumphantly.

Sans pulls it out of Mettaton’s hands with his magic and earns another scathing glare. He reads it quietly for a moment. “Huh. Pretty accurate I guess,” he says with a shrug. “Good actor with extreme potential, uh, sure?” Sans looks over at him, a bemused look upon his face. “Comedian with good comic timing, sure.” He nods. “Singing voice, unknown.” Sans chuckles. “I’ll keep it that way, thanks,” he says, glancing up at Mettaton.

“Darling, I’m sure it’s wonderful…”

“You’re dreaming if you think I’ll sing for you,” Sans cuts in, still perusing his file

“You could be so much more,” Mettaton says sadly, shaking his head as he flounces back over to you and lounging on the chair.

“I’m cool doing super irregular stand-up and manning my hotdog stands, thanks,” Sans shoots back.

Mettaton tsks. “You honestly have less interest in your potential than Blooky.” He sips his champagne. “Now, if you’re finished reading that, please, hand it back to me.”

Sans looks at him. “You really think I want you keeping a dossier on me?”

Mettaton smirks. “Then understand that I have a memory bank specifically for keeping these sorts of files. I ran out of space, so I copied it all down by hand and now keep it in those cabinets. And besides,” he chuckles. “There’s nothing overtly incriminating in there.”

Sans pauses for a moment. “You’re not wrong.” He shrugs. “Fine, whatever. Keep it. It’s only about my wasted potential anyway.”

Mettaton smiles as Sans hands the file back to him. “Thank you, darling. Now, back to you.” Mettaton turns his gaze on you. “We still haven’t answered the question of what your hobbies are.”

“Mettaton, don’t push her,” Sans warns, still standing in the doorway.

Mettaton waves his hand. “Of course, I wouldn’t be foolish enough to threaten your interests.”

You raise an eyebrow. That phrase wasn’t directed at you. “How would you be threatening his interests?” you ask.

Mettaton looks over at you, almost pityingly. “Darling, not all of us are oblivious.”

“What do yo-” Mettaton cuts Sans off mid-sentence.

“Now, from what I understand, you are quite personable.”

You shift slightly. “I, uh, I wouldn’t have said that…” you mumble.

Mettaton smirks slightly, glancing over at Sans. “There are a few monsters around that don’t make friends easily. Yet from the buzz of town, it seems you’ve managed to make friends with Grillby.” Sans visibly relaxes, you can see him in the corner of your eye.

“W-well, yeah, I can hear him speaking,” you mumble.

Mettaton tuts slightly. “Do you always have a stutter or is that a nervous habit?”

“Uhhh…”

“Nervous habit,” Sans mutters.

Mettaton chuckles softly. “Thank you kindly, Sans.” He scribbles on the page. “You aren’t very outgoing, are you?” he murmurs gently when you don’t say anything.

“N-no, not really,” you mumble. “But, as they say, introverts don’t make friends, they get adopted by extroverts.”

Mettaton laughs. “I suppose that is true,” he says. “I have adopted a few introverts in my time,” he murmurs, glancing to the door next to the filing cabinet.

“Your cousin’s an introvert?” you ask.

Mettaton shifts slightly. “One might say that, yes.” He shakes his head impatiently. “I shouldn’t discuss such matters, they’ll come and say hello if they so choose to.”

The door opens slightly with a creak. “Did somebody want to see me?” a low voice calls softly. You turn to look at the half-open door. A pair of eyes on a white face peers around the corner of the door. “No…..?” The eyes fade until you almost can’t see them or the face.

“Blooky dear, we would love to talk!” Mettaton says calmly. His voice loses its flamboyant nature. They reappear slowly and move- no, glide- towards him. The newcomer is… A ghost? Wearing headphones??

“Are you sure? I could just go back into my room…….. I need to keep working on my-” They stop and finally seem to see you. “Oh. Hello.”

You wave shyly. “Hi.”

The two of you stare at each other for a moment. The silence deafens the room. _Say something, you idiot!! Speak! You’re making everyone really uncomfortable, this is awkward, they’ll never forget this._

Mettaton clears his throat. “_____, this is my cousin Napstablook. Blooky, this is _____. She recently came here with Sans.”

“Oh. Hello.” They pause. “Wait. I already said that, didn’t I? Sorry…….”

You shake your head. “No no, it’s ok, I do that all the time,” you grin awkwardly. “Nice to meet you.”

“It was nice to meet you too…” they mumble. “I’ll go back working on my mixtapes…”

“How’s the latest one comin’ along?” Sans asks cordially.

“What?” Napstablook looks over at Sans. “Sorry, I didn’t see you there……. I’m sorry, you must think I’m so rude……….. Oh no………………….”

Sans waves a hand. “Eh, it’s no biggie. But seriously, how are the tapes coming along? Your last one was great.”

Napstablook’s eyes light up slightly. Well, as much as they can, being white, blank circles. “Heh, you… you really think so…….?”

Sans nods. “Yeah, I do. It was great to listen to.”

Napstablook blushes shyly. “Thank you…. I worked really hard on that….”

“You create music?” you ask, intrigued.

“Yeah…….?”

“What sort of music?” you ask, trying to keep the conversation going.

“Electronic mostly. Synth, bass, electro-dance, that sort,” they explain.

“Sooo, a DJ?”

“What’s a DJ?” Sans asks.

You look at Mettaton. He looks just as confused. Napstablook doesn’t. “It’s a person who uses soundboards to create electronic sounds and puts them over original tracks, sometimes their own songs and they play for live audiences and……. And…. You probably don’t care………. I was just boring you all with my dreams……….. Oh no…………………..”

Mettaton positively beams at Napstablook. “Why Blooky! We can make that dream a reality! I’m certain that the folks in the city would love that sort of thing!”

“Really……..? You mean that, Metta...?”

“Of course, darling! It will be fabulous!”

“Don’t you need to record the sounds for your soundboard?” you ask timidly.

Napstablook’s face falls. “Ohhhhhh…….. I hadn’t thought about that………. Oh no…………”

“Darling, there’s no need to give up hope! Sans here plays a trombone, and Undyne plays the piano.”

“I can play the piano,” you mumble.

Mettaton’s head whips around to you. “Why didn’t you say so before?!” he cries out happily. You look nervously at Sans and he just shrugs and grins at you. He scribbles that down in large writing. “Do you have any other talents I ought to know about?” he asks, staring hard at you.

“I can cook…” you mumble quietly.

“Perfect!” he cries. “Oh darling, this is simply perfect.”

Sans rolls his eyes. “Alright, alright, if we need to do recordings and whatnot, you’ll have to pencil it in. I’m busy all week doing nothing, so if we can postpone it, that’d be great.”

You give Sans a quick glare. “Well, I’m free doing nothing all week,” you counter. Sans grins and rolls his eyes at you. “For, uh, ever really.”

“Well, darling, Blooky and I aren’t free until next week, we’re still settling in and I have some plans for my up and coming restaurant that I simply must look over.” Mettaton sighs dramatically as he pulls out his diary. “Well, let’s see, I have time next Tuesday for a proper recording…” He looks over at you. “But don’t let that stop you from coming over throughout the week.”

“Yeah……” Napstablook says. “You seem nice…….. I’d like to see you again…”

Mettaton smiles. “No need to say goodbye yet, Blooky dear. They haven’t come all this way across the city for nothing." He turns to you and Sans. "You must stay for lunch!”


	28. Chapter 28

“L-lunch?” you mumble, looking at Sans. You can see him weighing up the pros and cons in his head.

He shrugs. “Eh, sure. It’s not like we were going to be doing anything else today.”

Mettaton gasps. “Not doing anything?! Have you been into the city yet?!” he asks.

Sans flashes him a look. The look says ‘shut up’. “No, I haven’t. I was going to do that in a day or two, not this afternoon.”

Mettaton pouts slightly. “Ah well. I suppose I should let the two of you enjoy it by yourselves,” he murmurs teasingly. Sans gives him a scathing glare.

“Should I go or……….?” Napstablook asks quietly.

Mettaton shakes his head. “No, no, I’d love for you to stay around,” he says gently. “We can partake in our family tradition.”

Napstablook looks up happily. “Really…? We can…?”

Mettaton hesitates slightly, looking warily at Sans before nodding. “Of course darling. There are ghost sandwiches in the fridge for you.” Napstablook floats off in the direction of the kitchen. Mettaton’s over the top showman’s voice comes back again. “Well then, darling,” he says, looking over at you and tossing down the rest of the first flute of champagne. “Shall we talk some more whilst I cook lunch?”

“S-sure?” you say hesitantly, wondering what Mettaton is planning to ‘cook’. “I can help if you like…”

Mettaton stands up, placing a hand over where his heart would be if he were a human. “Oh my, you cook too?!” He bends down to scribble that onto his piece of paper. “Darling, you would be quite welcome to perform in any of my shows, I would love to hear and taste your talent!” You hear a small huff from Sans beside you. Mettaton looks pointedly at him. “You would be welcome too, you know. All the talent from the Underground…” He ponders that for a moment. “That would be something to show the humans!” Mettaton picks up his paper and the second flute of champagne as he walks down the hall into the kitchen.

You follow behind, shaking your head slightly. “I- I don’t know that that’s a good idea,” you mumble, entering into the kitchen.

Mettaton is already on the other side of the bench. He whirls back around to look at you inquisitively. “How do you mean?” The champagne swishes in the glass as he puts it down.

Sans gives a sharp intake of breath, muttering a quiet, “Here we go…” from behind you.

You ignore him, leaning on the bench slightly. Napstablook floats behind Mettaton, a faint sandwich shape in front of their mouth. “It… Humans, uh… They don’t like change. They, uhh, they probably won’t like monsters all that much,” you mumble, thinking about what Fran’s book says. “There’s um, a lot of misinformation.”

Mettaton runs a metal finger along the smooth surface thoughtfully. “You know, I hadn’t particularly thought about how humans would react to monsters as a whole.” He hums. “I had been frustrated with the king for his hold up on our integration, but… Maybe he was right to. If what you say is true.”

“She’s right,” Sans pipes up from behind you. “They have a whole book about the war, saying that we torched houses and picked fights wherever we could, trying to take souls and whatnot. Calls Toriel and Asgore demons. Read it myself.”

Mettaton raises an eyebrow. “It sounds like the book is wrong on most accounts.”

“M-most accounts?” you ask nervously. The book talked about monsters as horrific creatures with intent to kill everything in sight. Was some of it… right?

Mettaton looks at Sans as if he’s asking a question. Sans shakes his head slightly, as if in response. “Never mind my dear, I meant all.”

You know he’s lying. You just know it. But you don’t have the courage to call him out on it. “What’s for lunch?” you ask politely. You can tell that Sans is watching you closely. Your fingers drum agitatedly on your side of the bench.

Mettaton grins. “Well, darling, I thought that we could make a human favourite, fish and chips! I thought you might prefer that to snails.”

You raise an eyebrow. “Ok, fair call.” You can’t picture yourself eating snails. Well, you can. It’s more a matter of you can’t see yourself enjoying them. “Have you ever cooked or, uh, had fish before?” you ask, wondering if there were fish underground.

Mettaton smiles. “I have now that we live above ground, but I’m no expert.” He pulls two medium sized fish from his fridge. “Come around this side of the bench, you’re no help over there!” he calls as he skilfully skins and guts the fish over the sink.

You walk around the bench, your brow creased. “I thought you said you weren’t an expert.”

Mettaton looks over at you and his knife doesn’t stop its work. “I beg your pardon?”

Your eyes widen. “N-nothing, you’re just really good.”

You hear Sans chuckle slightly. “Show off,” he mutters, but he doesn’t sound mad.

“Thank you, my dear. Would you be so kind as to start the chips? Potatoes are in the basket on the bottom shelf of the cupboard,” he says, turning back to cleaning the fish. You shake your head in amazement. Maybe it’s something to do with the fact that he’s a robot. That’s probably it.

“I’m sure you’ll be able to ‘fish’ out a few potatoes,” Sans calls from the other side of the room. You roll your eyes and smile slightly. “You should probably ‘starch’ doing that now.” Mettaton chuckles slightly, running cold water on the fillets.

You sigh, pulling the potatoes out and searching around for a chopping board. “Yeah, yeah, are you going to keep doing that or be helpful?”

Sans grins at you. “You mean as helpful as Undyne and I were last night?”

Mettaton stifles a chuckle. You look at him sharply. “I’d prefer it if no one’s shouting at me to drop and do twenty push ups. I had to wash my hands again every time I did that. It’s a wonder the pasta didn’t boil over.”

Mettaton makes a small sound of realisation. “That’s what you meant,” he mutters quietly. “That would be a very interesting addition to the underground’s cooking show.”

You look at Mettaton pointedly. “I will not be on a show like that. It was bad enough in the comfort of my own home.” You start at your own words. Was Sans’ house your home?

“Huh, didn’t think you were quite that comfortable yet,” Sans muses aloud. “Cool. Glad you are.”

You blush slightly. Mettaton smirks as he pulls out a frying pan. “Wh-where are the chopping boards?”

“She wants to be on the cutting edge of culinary.”

“Sans!” you yelp out. “Not helping!”

Mettaton laughs. “They’re in that cupboard over there,” he says, pointing to the far corner of the bench.

“Better get going, chop chop!” Sans calls out as you start walking over.

You stop in the middle of the kitchen and look at him. “Knife try, but I’ve had enough of your puns.”

Mettaton looks at you. “My, my, she has some puns of her own Sans, keep her around! You might actually learn some more jokes.”

Sans grins. “I dunno, she’s giving me a pretty sharp look.”

You sigh. “Would you cut it out!” Mettaton chuckles. “No, it was not an intentional pun,” you mutter, answering the silent question. “Let me cut chips in peace, gosh.” The smell of frying fish hits the air, accompanying the sound of snapping and bubbling oil.

“But darling! Show business requires that we discuss and make jokes as we work! It’s what entertains the people, after all.”

You look up from the potatoes you’ve started to cut. “Is there a camera filming us now?” you ask quickly.

“Well, no, but-”

“Then it isn’t necessary,” you tell Mettaton shortly. You realise that you’re feeling more confident. Being in the kitchen, using your hands and your mind, it helps a lot. “How were you planning on cooking these chips?” you ask.

Mettaton shrugs. “I’ve never really done it before, darling. I thought you might know how to, being a human.”

You chuckle slightly. “Grillby cooks fries, you don’t have to be a human for that. Where’s the oil?”

Mettaton points to the bottle next to him. “Over there, darling. You know what you’re doing, yes?”

You nod. “I need a pan.”

15 minutes later and you’re finished. Well, you would have preferred to have left the chips in a little longer, but Sans was complaining and making puns that declined in quality the more impatient he got. Mettaton points the two of you over to the table and places the meal in front of you. “A moment please, Blooky and I will have a traditional ghost sandwich.”

_So that’s what Napstablook was eating…_

You wait patiently for Mettaton to come back over. Sans waits impatiently, wriggling in his chair next to you. As soon as Mettaton sits down opposite you, Sans starts eating. “You know, _____, with some more flourish and pizzazz, you and I could be brilliant cooking show hosts,” Mettaton says, munching on a faint, ghostly sandwich. “Where did you learn to cook? Did you have any training?”

You shake your head. “I learnt mostly from the internet.” You pause. “You guys know what the int-”

“Yeah, we have internet,” Sans cuts in. “We also have social media. It’s kinda like a pocket internet inside of human internet.”

Napstablook nods thoughtfully, floating next to Mettaton. “It’s how I upload my mixes…….”

You nod. “Cool. That’s where I learnt to cook. I used to cook for… housemates,” you mumble, not wanting to get into specifics. At first it had been your family. Then, when you moved out at the tender age of 17, it was for Todd and yourself. Finally, not even a week ago, you were cooking for Fran.

_God, I hope Fran’s ok…_

“Lucky housemates,” Sans says, munching on chips. He’s watching you carefully, as if he knows what you’re thinking.

_He does know now. That conversation last night was a mess._

“How’s the fish, darling? I’m sure you’re more of a culinary expert than I am,” Mettaton says. You aren’t sure whether he’s actually nervous or just wanting to give out and receive compliments.

“It’s good,” you mumble. “And I wouldn’t say I-”

“Around here, culinary expert means that you don’t burn the house down or kill anyone whilst making it,” Sans says, shooting a glance in Mettaton’s direction. “So yeah, you are.”

“Darling that was ONE time and it was only for an elaborate plot in television drama!” Mettaton splutters. “Besides, I didn’t even kill them.”

Sans waves a chip threateningly across the table. “Frisk told me how close that chainsaw got.”

Your eyes widen. “Why were you using a CHAINSAW in the GODDAMN KITCHEN?!” you exclaim.

Mettaton chuckles awkwardly. “Sh-show business?” he says, grinning sheepishly.

Sans snorts. “Yuh huh. I know.”

“Metta……?”

“Yes, Blooky?” Mettaton asks gently.

“Can we partake in the family tradition?”

Mettaton smiles. “Of course, Blooky.” He gets up from the table and walks to the empty space between the kitchen and the table. “_____, Sans, you can join us if you like.”

“What, uh, what is it?” you ask curiously.

Napstablook flops down on the floor sideways with an audible poof. “Tradition. Sometimes, after a good meal, we ghosts like to lie on the floor and feel like garbage……. Would you care to join us?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, I hope y'all appreciate that picture. It took forever to do.... And I wish I could've done more on it DX The colouring is atrocious. Ah well, it gets the point across.   
> About the city and why we never see it: It's on the other side of the mountain, you can only fit so much of a civilisation on one mountain-side. Also, it's a throwback to the fact that you can never go to the city in the game but you here heaps about it.


	29. Chapter 29

You look over at Sans. He shrugs. “S-sure?” you say, still not quite sure what’s about to happen.

Mettaton smiles at you as he lies down. “It’s simple darling, just lie down with us and let all your inner self-loathing out.”

“Inner sel- what?” you ask, confused.

“Eh, if it’s just lying down like a normal afternoon, sure,” Sans jokes, plonking on the ground next to Napsterblook.

You tentatively walk over and sit down. “So, do I, uh, close my eyes or…?”

Mettaton shakes his head. “No, no. Just relax and watch.”

“Relax and watch,” you mumble to yourself. “Ok.” You ease yourself into lying down next to Sans and Mettaton. It’s odd to try and relax your whole body without closing your eyes. Usually, you wouldn’t do something like that unless you were trying to sleep. You breathe deeply. What was the next step?

“Now release all the self-loathing into the air and relax in it.”

“So… think about how much I hate myself?” you ask, looking over at Mettaton.

He pauses. “Not quite. It’s more about feeling it and then letting it go.”

You nod. Well. Start with something small. _You left Fran with her douchebag of a son without saying goodbye. Yeah. That was an awful thing to do. She probably hates you now. Sh-_

_Now let it go._

_She… she hate… No. That thought is gone. No._

You let out the breath you were holding in and relax in it. You feel good. So… light. It’s almost like you’re drifting. It feels like there’s no floor against your back anymore. Slowly, the white ceiling fades away into a shimmery mass of colour. You blink rapidly. Surely this is just a trick of your mind? “What- What?!” you splutter. Stars are appearing before your eyes, planets slowly appear, one by one. A meteor flies past your head with a whooshing sound.

“Shhhh, darling,” Mettaton whispers. “Just relax.”

Your eyes gaze over the wonders and depths of outer space. Colours swirl and dance with the white gleam of stars, some of them radiating blue, red and purple. The colours envelop you completely; you’re alone in this vast expanse. To the left, there’s a galaxy spiralling around a large sun. To your right, an asteroid belt of rocks. Meteors pass by overhead. There’s always something happening, something moving. Everywhere you look, there’s something new. It’s hard to know which way is up. You can’t tell whether you’re lying down or standing. You feel small, standing, or possibly lying down in the boundless reaches of space. All you can do is watch in awe. So you watch in absolute fascination, your eyes darting around to take it all in. A planet with six rings hovers nearby. You can’t help but wonder if this is real or not. Is it real? Are you real? Is anything real anymore? There’s only one way to find out. You reach out to touch a gleaming star. It feels warm, but your hand phases right through it.

“_____!”

That’s your name. Why is it being called here? Here, you are alone. You are at peace. Is that your name?

“_____, you need to wake up!”

Who is this person? Are they even a person? What is this voice that drifts through the abyss of space? You feel hands. You can’t see them. Your breath tightens in your throat. This is not ok. This is scary. This is wrong. You are alone. You try to move away from the phantom hands, wriggling away. The darkness that mingled with colours slowly fades. Soon, you’re staring a white ceiling. You sit up, panicked. Golden light fills the room. It must be just before sunset. “What the hell just happened?!”

You look over to find Mettaton kneeling by your side. “Darling! Thank goodness you’re ok! You were out for a good five hours or so. You shouldn’t have been under for so long, it’s dangerous and can lead to existentialism!”

You slow your heart rate down, breathing heavily. “I… I think I figured that out…” you mumble, remembering back on your experience. “That… That was incredible,” you murmur.

Mettaton sits beside you. “Yes, I can imagine it would be a marvellous experience for the first time.” He smiles at you, though his eyes are sad. “You remind me a little of Blooky,” he says, sighing. “A lot of potential, but a lot of self-loathing. A lot of issues. But a beautiful soul.”

You nod, your heartbeat returning back to normal. “Yeah. Sans has told me as much.” Sans! What happened to him?! You look around you in frantic worry. “Wh-where is he?!”

Mettaton chuckles, pointing across the floor to the mound of blue hoodie. “He fell asleep almost immediately. Blooky and I left him there. We didn’t have much choice, neither of us could wake him up.” Mettaton looks at you curiously. “What did Sans tell you?” he asks.

You shrug. “He, uh, told me you’d think I have a lot of potential. He also told me that I’ve got a beautiful soul.”

Mettaton raises his eyebrows in shock. “I beg your pardon?!” he splutters.

“What, the soul thing?” you ask. “I wanted to see what it looked like, so we had a look,” you say, shrugging.

Mettaton blinks back at you in shock. “I… What?” he mumbles. “You don’t understand what that means, do you dear?” he says softly.

You shake your head. “No, not really…”

Mettaton takes a deep breath. “Darling, don’t go around saying that sort of thing. That’s a very private moment between two individuals.” He pauses. “It also will not help your case if Undyne or Alphys hears about it.” He shakes his head. “I understand that it was probably out of mere curiosity, especially as Sans wouldn’t have replicated the action, but others like those two won’t.” He smiles slightly. “Don’t worry, my lips are sealed.”

You decide that you shouldn’t tell him that you’re the only person to have seen Sans’ soul. That would make this situation a lot more complicated. You nod. “Thanks, sorry, I uh, I’m still not used to all this yet.”

Mettaton nods. “I figured as much dear. I see that Sans is taking very good care of you, but if you ever need any help, come to me.” He smiles. “Now, if what I hear about Papyrus is correct, he will have already had dinner. And he will probably be worried about the two of you. _____, would you mind waking Sans?”

You nod and walk over to him. You shake him gently, rolling him onto his side so his eyes look to the open window. “Sans, time to wake up,” you mumble. He groans sleepily and rolls over. “Sans,” you say, more sternly this time. “Dude, it’s like 6 o’clock.”

“Intha mornin or the evenin?” Sans mumbles into his hood.

You smile. He’s awake if he’s talking like that. “Evening, now come on!”

He rolls onto his back, opening his eyes and staring up at the ceiling. “We’re, uh, not in our room, are we?” You shake your head and glance over your shoulder. Mettaton coughs awkwardly. Sans looks over at him still lying down. “F*ck.”

Mettaton chuckles slightly. “I suppose that isn’t supposed to be common knowledge.”

Sans sits up. “It’s not what you think!” he calls out.

Mettaton smirks slightly. “Then please, do explain.”

Sans looks over at you somewhat helplessly. “_____?”

You sigh. “I get bad nightmares and mental attacks. One time, Sans stayed with me and Papyrus found us in the morning. He demanded that Sans sleep with me from then on to help with them.” You shrug. “It’s been working so far.”

Mettaton nods. “That does sound like something he would do, the dear thing.” Sans growls in the back of his throat. “Calm down, darling, I’m not going to do anything to him. Besides, he’s a very loyal fan of mine.”

Sans grunts. “Yeah.” He hauls himself up onto his feet. “Come on, _____, we’re heading home.” He sighs. “We didn’t leave a note, so Papyrus will be freaking out. Do you think we could only do three jumps this time?”

“Sans,” you say placatingly. You tilt your head to Mettaton. “At least be polite.”

Sans smacks his head. “I’m sorry, I was just shaken,” he mumbles, walking over to Mettaton.

Mettaton merely laughs. “I can imagine that would be mortifying. Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone.” He smiles at you slightly knowingly. “I can keep secrets.”

Sans doesn’t seem to notice the look Mettaton gave you. He holds out his hand. “Thanks for being so hospitable. The floor was very comfortable.”

Mettaton gently takes Sans’ hand. “You’re welcome. Come by any time on Tuesday for those recordings, both of you. We’ll probably end up at Undyne’s house, but it would be nice to meet up here first.” They shake hands and Sans gives him a nod. Mettaton walks over to you, arms outstretched questioningly. You shrink back slightly. He nods and drops his arms. “Well, it was very nice to meet you _____. Blooky would say the same. They’re in their room right now.”

You nod. “It was nice to meet you too, Mettaton. Even if I did spend most of my time here passed out on the floor,” you mumble.

Mettaton grins. “If you’re ever interested in the show business-”

Sans chuckles. “Yeah, yeah, we know who to call.” He checks his phone. “Crap, Paps has left 27 voicemails. We’ll get another one awful soon if we don’t call him back and get our butts home.”

You chuckle slightly. If you had a phone, Fran would have done the same thing by this point. Fran... _No, you let that guilt go… That has no hold on you anymore._

Mettaton laughs. “Well, you’d best be getting home. He’ll have had his dinner by now and has probably called every monster he has the phone number of.”

Sans scratches his head. “Yeah, we’ll have to stop in at Grillby’s.” He looks over at Mettaton, grabbing your hand. “Welp. See ya around.”

“Bah-bye darlings!” Mettaton calls. You feel the blackness pull you back and your vision clouds over in a swirling haze of black with just a little bit of pink.

Four jumps later and you and Sans land in the kitchen. Sans is carrying the take out under his arm and he sets it down on the counter. Papyrus comes running into the kitchen. “OH MY GOD SANS ARE YOU ALRIGHT?! _____! ARE YOU TWO OK?!” He comes screeching to a halt. “OH MY GOD, I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU WOULD GO TO GRILLBY’S ON YOUR WAY HOME. WE HAVE PERFECTLY GOOD FOOD HERE THAT I MASTERFULLY COOKED.” Papyrus thinks for a second. “I ALSO MASTERFULLY ATE IT, BUT THE POINT STILL STANDS!!”

Sans chuckles. “Relax, we didn’t mean to be back so late, and I don’t want you stressing over cooking for us too.”

Papyrus rolls his eyes and huffs. “WELL… I SUPPOSE YOU ARE RIGHT. I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, AM WILLING TO OVERLOOK YOUR HORRID DIET OF GREASE THIS TIME AROUND. NOW.” He pauses, trying to remember what he was about to say. You know the exact moment when he remembers because his arms start to flail. “SANS, WHERE WERE YOU TWO?! I WAS WORRIED SICK! I CALLED UNDYNE AND ALPHYS AND ASGORE AND THE LADY ASGORE AND DOGARESSA AND DOGAMY AND GRILLBY AND LOT-”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Sans calls out. “Hey, hey, it’s ok! We were at Mettaton’s place.”

Papyrus stops mid-sentence. “METTATON?!” he cries. “WHY THEN, I CAN UNDERSTAND WHY YOU WOULD STAY SO LONG THEN! HIS PRESENCE IS INCREDIBLE AND HE NEVER MAKES A MISTAKE ON HIS SHOWS! HE MIGHT BE THE ONLY PERSON GREATER THAN ME! HE IS FAR MORE POPULAR…” Papyrus says. “SANS, DON’T GIVE ME THOSE PUPPY EYES.”

You look over at Sans. He is indeed giving Papyrus pleading eyes. “Is he the only person who can compare to your greatness?” he teases.

Papyrus sighs loudly. “SANS, YOU ARE LAZY AND YOU STILL HAVEN’T. PICKED. UP. THAT. SOCK!!” You chuckle. Papyrus looks at you. “_____ MIGHT BE A CLOSE SECOND THOUGH.”

“To who?” Sans asks.

Papyrus pauses in deep thought. “TO METTATON,” he decides. “HER COOKING LEVEL IS INCREDIBLE! EVEN BETTER THAN MINE AND THAT IS SAYING A LOT!” Papyrus grins down at you proudly. “THERE. YOU ARE BETTER THAN THE COOLEST MONSTER IN THE UNDERGROUND!! HOW DOES THAT MAKE YOU FEEL?”

“Uhh…” You look at Sans. He grins. “Um, honoured. Really, really honoured,” you say, grinning up at him.

Papyrus leans down. “ACTUALLY, YOU MIGHT BE THIRD,” he says in a very loud whisper. “SANS IS ACTUALLY COOLER THAN METTATON, BUT DON’T TELL HIM!”

You nod, knowing Sans heard every word. “I won’t.”


	30. Chapter 30

Papyrus stands up straight again. “WELL SANS AND _____! I AM READY FOR MY BEDTIME STORY!” He marches off up the stairs with a loud “NYEH HEH HEH!”

You look over at Sans. His eyebrows are raised. “What?”

He jerks his head toward the stairs. “You coming tonight, or are you gonna read by yourself again?” he asks.

You shrug. “May as well come up,” you mumble, walking along beside Sans. You don’t particularly want to read that book again. You reach the door to Papyrus’s room. You’d seen it before, every time you walk up and down the stairs, but you’ve never really had a good look at it. It’s plastered with different signs, the most noticeable one a large stop sign. Yellow Caution tape is crisscrossed over it haphazardly and something tells you that it wasn’t Papyrus’s doing. Maybe Undyne’s instead. There’s a note pinned to the door, but you don’t have time to read it. Sans swings the door open and you catch a glimpse of Papyrus tucked up in bed, his feet dangling over the edge of his bed. Is… Is that a _child’s_ car bed? No wonder he doesn’t fit.

“Hey Paps, is it all good if _____ comes in tonight?” Sans asks, gesturing to you.

Papyrus bolts upright. “WHY YES!! OF COURSE! I WOULD LOVE FOR THE GREAT _____ TO COME READ TO ME!”

Sans gives a low whistle. “Damn, he added the great onto your name. That’s reserved for only the best people.”

“YES, WELL, WE TALKED ABOUT THIS BEFORE, REMEMBER?! _____ IS ONE OF THE GREATEST, ESPECIALLY AT COOKING!” Papyrus snuggles himself back down in his blankets. “NOW, CAN WE PLEASE READ?”

You glance at Sans nervously. He shrugs and points you to the bookcase. Sans had said a children’s book, right? You scan the book spines. “Peekaboo with a fluffy bunny?” you ask. You look back to find Papyrus nodding eagerly.

“THAT’S ONE OF MY FAVOURITES!” he calls excitedly.

“The ending always gets him,” Sans says, grinning.

“Ok,” you mumble, walking back over. “Do you want the lights on, or off?”

“ON!” Papyrus calls in a definite tone. “HOW ELSE WOULD YOU BE ABLE TO READ?”

“True…” you mumble, sitting down beside his bed. Sans sits next to you in the perfect position to read over your shoulder. You clear your throat and open the book. “Peek-a-boo with a fluffy bunny, by B.B. Nolme, volume 1.” You turn the page. There are basic pictures on the right side of the book. “In which Fluffkins visits-” You break off as you hear a gentle snoring sound start up. Papyrus is already asleep. You look over at Sans. He grins and gestures for you to keep going. “In which Fluffkins visits his family and meets a new cousin. Fluffkins was an ordinary bunny, nothing all that special about him. He stood on his hind legs, looking in the mirror of his warren. He had to look his Sunday best, as today he was meeting his family. He combed his fur and did his morning exercises. ‘One, two, three!’ he counted, stretching as high as he could go. ‘One, two, three!’ he counted again, now stretching as low as he could go. He had a small breakfast that was made up of a carrot and a few lettuce leaves. He was ready to see his family.” You turn the page carefully. “‘Good morning, Whinney! Good morning Tigreg!’ Fluffkins called happily, skipping down the lane. The sun was warm on his nose. It was already 10 in the morning when he reached his old family home. He knocked on the door. ‘There you are, Fluffy!’ his mother called. ‘You’re just in time to help with the luncheon preparations!’ ‘Yes mother, here I am! Now, what can I do?’ Fluffkin’s mother showed him where to put his coat - ‘that has a lot of holes in it, dear!’ - and where to put his hat - ‘are you sure that still fits-’.” You stop reading again as you feel a thud against your shoulder. You look over to see Sans sleeping against you. You sigh, putting the book down gently. Papyrus stirs slightly but remains asleep. You tap gently on Sans’s skull, checking to see if he’s really asleep. He is. You sigh. How on earth were you going to wake him up without waking his brother?

_The door is still open, you might be able to drag Sans?_

_It’s worth a shot._

You lift his head gently from your shoulder, slide out from underneath him and lower him gently down to the floor. Standing up, you assess the situation. If you drag him by the legs, it would be quicker and lighter, but you would risk bumping his head on the way. If you drag him by the arms, it would be heavier and longer, but you‘re keeping his head safe and have more control. “Better to be safe than sorry,” you mumble, grabbing his arms.

It takes a while for you to get Sans out the door. You have to worry about bumping into things such as Papyrus’s feet that hang over the edge of the bed and the action figures strewn over the floor in a complex battle scenario. As you carefully edge your way around the obstacles, you can hear Papyrus murmuring under his breath. “When solving… complex… puzzles… one must… apply mathematical equations…” It seems his mind is reading the books by itself.

_Does Sans know that Papyrus doesn’t actually wake up when you stop reading?_

You huff slightly; who knew bones could be so heavy? Eventually, you make it about halfway down the corridor and you let Sans slide gently to the floor. You walk back and very gently close Papyrus’s door, flipping off the light switch before you do. “Three… packets of… spaghetti…” he mumbles. It would seem that he’s moved onto the shopping list. You pad back down the hall.

“Sans?” you murmur, shaking him. He stirs. “Sans, wake up!” you hiss next to his ear.

His eyes flicker open. “What is it?” he asks sleepily, peering up at you with half-closed eyes.

“You fell asleep while I was reading to Papyrus, and I can’t carry you all the way to our room.” You pause and let him take in that information. He starts to get up. “Besides,” you say, “we still need to have our nightly talk.”

“Uh huh,” Sans nods, walking along the hall. He pauses by his old room. “Did you ever go into my room?”

You shake your head. “No, I didn’t.”

He grins, flashing a silver key at you before it disappears. The door’s lock clicks without him even touching the key to it. “Come on in then.” He walks in without looking back at you, holding the door ajar. You walk in behind him, your eyes adjusting to the dim lighting. Sans sighs and flips on the lamp across the room. The light points upwards in a very directional beam of light.

“Is… Is that a torch in place of a lightbulb?” you ask, carefully stepping over the pile of dirty socks. How scandalous.

He chuckles slightly. “Yeah, couldn’t be bothered to work out how to change a bulb, and Papyrus never enters past the sock pile. Only person who’s been as far as you are is me.” He pauses. “Frisk might’ve been in here once, but that would’ve been in a different timeline.”

You shake your head slightly. Different timelines? That’s still something you need to wrap your head around. “Soo, I’m the only other person to have been this far in this timeline?” you ask.

Sans nods, flopping onto the bare mattress. A large ball of creased sheets sits next to him. “Only you.” He gestures to the room at large, leaning against the ball of sheets. “Make yourself at home.”

You look around. To your left, there’s a large pile of socks. In front of you, there’s a treadmill. “Sans, why do you have a treadmill in the middle of your room? And why is it on?”

He starts to laugh. “That’s in case I want to prank anyone who comes into my room. With the lights off, they’ll just keep walking for a while without realising it.”

You frown slightly. “I… I don’t think that’s how treadmills work…”

Sans looks over at you. “What’s the reason for everything around here?” he asks lazily.

You roll your eyes. “Yeah, yeah, mag-”

“Nah, it’s just a multi-directional one,” he grins, cutting you off. “Though, yeah, it’s like that because of magic.”

You huff slightly. “Of course.” You look to your right. “What… the f*ck is that?”

“Ma-”

“I know!” you say impatiently, “But what the hell is it?!”

Sans shrugs. “A trash tornado.”

You frown, staring at it. “There’s a heating bill in there, some books, and a whole plate of spaghetti.”

Sans shrugs. “Like I said, trash.”

You narrow your eyes. “Does Papyrus know you call spaghetti trash?”

Sans chuckles uneasily. “No, well, I actually like spaghetti, it’s just… His isn’t all that great,” he says, wincing slightly.

You stare at the trash tornado for a while longer. It’s almost mesmerising. “What did the books do to deserve being thrown in there?”

Sans grimaces. “Trash books. Came from the human world. Fell into the underground. Alphys gave them to me for whatever reason.” He makes a gagging sound.

You catch a glimpse of the cover. “50 Shad- Oh sh*t, those books?” you mumble.

Sans glances at you. “You’ve read them?” he asks,

“Uhh, only bits and pieces. Never really wanted to. Badly written anyway, let alone the ‘plot’.”

Sans nods. “See why they’re in the trash tornado?”

You nod. “Hey, are you actually gonna make the bed? Or do you just sleep on the bare mattress?”

Sans shrugs. “I usually sleep on the bare mattress, but you can make it if you really want to.”

You shrug. “Are we staying in here tonight or are we leaving again? If we’re leaving, there’s no real reason to make it.”

Sans sits up properly. “Ah. Um, well… Ah, shoot, why not? I miss this room sometimes.”

You chuckle. “You just want me to make the bed, don’t you?”

Sans looks down at his feet. “Yeah, whatever.”

You grin. “Get up, you lazybones, I’ll do it.”

He gets up and starts to shake out the sheets. “Been a while since I did this. It was still like this when Paps and I were underground. Whole place is almost identical, courtesy of Papyrus.”

You raise your eyebrows. “That was like, 6 months ago, right?!”

Sans nods. “Almost 8 actually, yeah.”

You shake your head. “These sheets will be so creased.”

“Unless I use-”

“Magic, uh huh,” you finish for him, disentangling the top sheet from the fitted one. “Is there anything that magic doesn’t do here??”

Sans shrugs, pulling the pillowcase out and grabbing the bare pillow. “Well, different monsters have different magic. Mine and Paps is manipulating gravity and objects in general, whereas Tori and Asgore have fire magic. They have to actually wash clothes and stuff.” He grumbles at the pillow. “Why is so damn hard to fit a pillow in its case!”

“Wait, so, if you can manipulate gravity, how does that wash clothes??” you ask, reaching over to put the sheet on the mattress.

Sans looks up from his pillow struggles. “Well, see, I love me some science and I figured out how to manipulate gravity at a molecular level, basically working it like a sieve. Use a heavier gravity on the dirt particles and you’re left with clean stuff.”

You pause. “I… I don’t know that… That works?” you ask.

Sans shrugs. “Seems to. You want a hand?”

“Sure, that’d be gr-” You turn to look at him. He’s taken his hand off his arm, holding it out to you. It’s a little unsettling to see the hoodie sleeve and know that there’s a handless arm under it. “Never mind.”

Sans chuckles. “For real though, this pillow is annoying and I can just use magic to do the sheets.”

You stare at him, slightly annoyed. “Really? Why didn’t you say so before? Besides, couldn’t you just use magic on your pillow too?”

Sans shrugs. “A pillowcase is just too much to think about holding that with magic AND fit the pillow in as well. I honestly don’t think it would make it any easier, to be honest.” He drops his futile attempt at casing the pillow and gets up. “Deal?”

You roll your eyes. “Yeah, deal. Please put your hand back on though, it’s weird.”

Sans grins. “Whatever. Shift, I’ll do it.” You back up, grabbing the pillow and stuffing it in the case. Sheets float and arrange themselves in a somewhat neat fashion. He flops down on them as soon as they settle on the bed. “Pass the pillow!” he calls tiredly.

You toss it at his face. “I can’t believe you had me trying to fit the sheets when you could do it with a snap of your fingers,” you grumble, getting up on the bed. “Scooch, I wanna lie down too.”

Sans chuckles, flipping the pillow under his head and shifting closer to the wall. “It’s only a single bed, it’ll be a squish.”

You slump down next to him. “Yeah, well we made the bed, may as well lie in it.”

“So. What did you wanna talk about?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, a bit of a cute/friendship chapter here. I'll be the first to admit, I hated the fact that I had to write a kids storybook. I made a parody of one of my favourite children's books (which, granted, doesn't really go well with the title, but the ENDING is what had the peek-a-boo when Fluffkins meets his new cousin). Props to you if you can tell which children's stories it was based off. It's a pretty bad parody. Also, I really headcanon that Papyrus built the house to be almost exactly the same house as they had underground but with a guest room because he suddenly has a whole bunch of friends. Now it's your room. Aren't you special?


	31. Chapter 31

You shrug. “I dunno, a lot’s happened today.”

Sans chuckles. “Well actually, you spent half of it conked out on the floor if I recall correctly.”

“Shhh!” you say. “There was a lot that happened. Besides, so did you!”

“Yeah, but that’s normal.” Sans rolls over to look at you, his shoulder clanking against yours. “So… You spent all that time, what, sleeping like I was?”

You shake your head, staring at the ceiling. “N-no, it was weird. I was in space.”

Sans clucks his tongue. Well, it sounds that way, you aren’t really sure if he has a tongue. “So it was a dream,” he mutters.

You shake your head stubbornly. You know it wasn’t a dream, it was too real. “No, it wasn’t. It was like… a trance or something. I could touch the stars and planets and stuff, but my hand went through them. But it felt warm, I felt it! It was too real to be a- a dream.” You shake your head in frustration. It sounds stupid now that you say it out loud. “I can’t really explain it, it was weird.” You look over at Sans. He’s thinking hard, you can tell that much.

“Frisk mentioned the space thing when they told me about the times they spent with Napstablook,” he mutters. He gives an awkward one-arm shrug. “Oh well, maybe it is a thing. Too bad I tend to fall asleep whenever I lie down,” he chuckles.

You raise an eyebrow. “For someone committed to science, you seem awfully flippant about what could potentially be an enormous breakthrough in interdimensional stability and travel.” You know what you just said sounds smart, but really you just read a lot of sci-fi books.

_Who knows, maybe that is a thing here. Magic is clearly real._

Sans grins. “What do you think my teleporting is, _____?” He sighs. “If it is something like that, then there isn’t an explanation. If there was, I’d know why I can teleport.”

“So that one isn’t to do with the gravitational pull of molecules and you being able to transport every single individual one?” you ask, focusing hard on remembering the words that Sans had used when talking about how he cleans things.

Sans chuckles. “You give me too much credit, I can’t even put a pillow in its case. I wouldn’t be able to control that many molecules without screwing it up. If that was how it worked, I’d be long gone. Along with anyone I took with me.” He shakes his head, rolling back onto his back. “No, it doesn’t work based on science. It’s unexplainable magic.”

You shrug. “Well, isn’t magic just science we haven’t learnt yet?” you ask. Your head is spinning slightly, but you’re keeping up ok. It’s no more confusing than the small timeline explanation he gave a few days ago.

Sans snorts. “You say that, but I can explain what my magic does scientifically.”

You turn over to look at him. “Well, can you explain how you do it?”

Sans goes to refute your point. Nothing. He sighs. “Whatever. I could say that monsters are mostly made of magic, but then you’d ask how that works and honestly, I don’t have an answer for that.” He falls silent. “You know, it’s nice to be able to talk to someone else about this sort of thing. Alphys isn’t always the best person to talk to about it. She generally just stutters an agreement to whatever I said. You ask questions and debate about it.” He chuckles. “It’s good. It’s refreshing.”

“Hey, I don’t _debate_ it…” you mumble.

“You do point out what’s wrong with it though. I’d call that debating.”

You shrug. “I… I don’t usually disagree with people though…” you mumble, confused. Disagreeing with people was bad, you remember that clearly. You aren’t quite sure why. “I don’t know why I’ve started doing it again now that I’m here.”

Sans shrugs slightly. “Could it have something to do with… well, you know?” he asks uneasily. “What you left behind.” You freeze. Panic edges at the corner of your mind and you can feel something fighting to get to the forefront of your thoughts.

_He’s not wrong, it probably was to do with To-_

_Don’t think about it, you’ll go into the memories, don’t question it, don’t think about it, don’t say anything about it. If you think about it, you’ll remember. Don’t want to remember…_

“Sh*t, sorry, forget I said anything,” Sans says, a slight sense of panic in his voice.

“K-keep t-talking,” you murmur, fighting off the thoughts that try to drag you into those memories, the haze around them clearing and then fogging over again.

Sans takes a deep breath. “Uhh, do you want me to talk about anything in particular, or do you just want me to keep talking?” He pauses for a moment. You don’t respond, but your breathing quickens slightly. “I’ll take that as a ‘just keep talking’ then… Um. Well. I’m here with you, you’re here in my room, nothing will hurt you here, everything will be alright, you’re safe. Whatever happens, I’ll be there with you, I-” He breaks off as you grab his hand.

“You can stop now, I just… I needed your voice so that I could focus on it,” you murmur. “Thank you. I- I’m ok now. Let’s just… let’s not talk about that now.”

Sans nods. “Back to science or do you have something else in mind?”

You pause. What was it you had wanted to ask? “Sans, did you know that Papyrus actually reads the stories to himself in his head while he sleeps? You don’t actually have to read the whole thing.”

Sans stares at you. “What do you mean?” he asks.

You chuckle slightly. “I didn’t even finish reading the first book.”

Sans reels back slightly, letting go of your hand. “What?!”

You nod. “Yeah, you fell asleep on me. Papyrus didn’t wake up. You know what I heard as I left the room with you dragging along the floor?”

“You dragged me along the floor?!”

You huff, rolling onto your back and folding your arms. “Well, I can’t exactly carry you, can I!”

“Right, right, you’re human, you don’t got magic,” he huffs. “That’s why my arms hurt.”

“Stop complaining, I didn’t want to wake Papyrus!”

“Yeah, about that, how did he _not_ wake up?” Sans asks.

You let out a small chuckle. “He was muttering in his sleep, something about the mathematics behind puzzle construction and later on it was about buying three packets of spaghetti.”

Sans shakes his head, bewildered. “Huh. He memorised them. Well, whaddaya know.”

You turn your head to look at him. “So you didn’t know that? I wouldn’t have been surprised if you knew but still did it anyway.”

Sans chuckles. “To be fair, I probably still will even though I do know. It’s…” He pauses, thinking about what to say next. “It’s one of the only times I get to see him relaxed. He’s always running around, doing his best, never stopping for a break. Back underground, it was so much worse. It was rare for him to sleep through the night at all.” Sans sighs, rolling onto his back. “When Frisk freed us, which, by the way, I still don’t understand how that happened, Papyrus found out that he had lots of friends.” Sans smiles. “That helped him a lot. He started stopping more, slowing down to spend time with people. Talking more and working less.” Sans sighs happily. “I know that seems bad, but with the amount Paps was working, it was really necessary. He… He started to get happier. It was nice. Happiest I ever saw him was the first time he saw the sun rise in the morning.”

You smile at the thought of a gleeful Papyrus watching the sunrise. “I’m surprised you were awake for that,” you tease.

Sans rolls his eyes with a smile. “Hey, it was the first day we were out here. I didn’t actually sleep that first night if you want to know the truth. I’d never seen the stars before, but I’d read a bunch of books on them. Most of the monsters went back underground to their homes to sleep and celebrate and whatnot. Paps, Undyne, Tori, Asgore and I, well, we all stayed up to watch the stars. Frisk was there too, but they fell asleep pretty quickly.” He gives a small smile at the memory. “There was a light breeze blowing and the scent of pine needles. We’d never really felt ‘breeze’ before. There was wind in Snowdin and the same smell of pine, but this breeze was different. Soft. Cool. Gentle. It made me feel a bit more at ease about moving up here.” You close your eyes, imagining the five monsters laying on the grassy hill, looking up at the stars, nothing but the sounds of leaves rustling in the breeze and Frisk’s gentle snores. “‘Course, it wasn’t tranquil. Undyne and Papyrus were training most of the time.”

You reimagine the scene with three monsters lying on the hill, Frisk asleep next to Toriel and Undyne and Papyrus running up and down the hillside yelling encouragement to each other. That seems much more likely. “Have you ever gone back there?” you ask, looking over at him.

He rolls over to look at you again. “What, gone to the top of the hill and stargazed?” He shakes his head. “No, can’t say I have. That hill’s pretty special to me. If I go back there, it’s either going to be with Paps, Undyne and the Dreemurrs, or it’ll be for something real special.” He shrugs. “Or I might accidentally end up there when I teleport too far one day.” He shakes his head. “As for stargazing in general?” He pauses for a moment. “Nah, I like sleep too much to do that.”

You raise your eyebrows disbelievingly. That pause was too thoughtful and long to be for effect. “I don’t believe that last part.”

Sans sighs. “Sorry, you’re right. Honesty and sincerity, that’s what our friendship is based on.”

“And curiosity,” you point out, thinking about the souls and the late night talks. “But yeah, those too.”

Sans gives a heavy sigh. “Alright, well, Paps doesn’t know this, so don’t mention it to him, but… Before you came along, I’d go out every night at around three in the morning, watch the stars for an hour or so and then come back,” he admits. “I stopped when you came along cuz, well, at first I didn’t want a stranger in the house with my brother fast asleep.”

“Sounds about right,” you mumble, remembering the first night you’d had in this house. Sans had been… very threatening.

Sans chuckles. “Yeah, I get a bit protective. Especially after… Well,” he mutters bitterly. “You know the story.” You nod, pursing your lips. Frisk nearly killing your brother would probably put you on edge around humans too. Sans shrugs. “Anyway, every night after that, I’ve been sleeping in a bed with you. Don’t particularly want to wake ya, so I just don’t wake up and leave.”

You shrug. “I mean, I wouldn’t say no to some stargazing.”

Sans’ eyes light up. “Really?!” He backs off a bit with his enthusiasm. “Heh, ok, cool.”

You laugh. “You can be excited if you want, you know.”

Sans looks away slightly sheepishly. “Sorry, it’s just… I’m not used to, well… This.”

You raise an eyebrow at him. “‘This’ being…?”

He shrugs. “Well, like I said before, I don’t really have anyone to talk to who’s actually interested in this sort of thing. You’re curious, you ask questions and sometimes I don’t have the answers.”

“I thought you liked having all the answers,” you mumble.

Sans grins. “Oh, I do. I hate not having all the answers. But… when I don’t have an answer for you, you make it seem ok. Like, that it’s ok to not have all the answers. I mean, how many times have you taken ‘magic’ as an answer in these past four days?”

You chuckle. “Too many times.”

Sans laughs. “Yeah, I know, but you’ve taken it on and not freaked out. And then when I explain how it works, you ask as many questions as you can. It’s great! And sometimes neither of us understand. But… It’s like it’s ok, because… I don’t know, because I’m not the only one who wants to know but doesn’t know?” He shakes his head. “That probably makes no sense. I’m not used to someone who wants to know. I’m used to just keeping my passions and knowledge to myself because no one asks. Hell, I’m used to keeping everything to myself. And yet, you know so much about me. You know more than Papyrus.” He turns to look at you. “I once thought that that was impossible. I told Papyrus more than I would dare to tell anyone else and I didn’t even touch on the hard sh*t. I also once thought that no one would ever see my soul. I never thought that I’d trust someone that much.” He grins. “But you, well… You proved me wrong. I’m not used to that either. I guess... I guess I’m just not used to close friendships.” He sighs. “The closest friend I had for a while was Tori. I even made a promise to her, which is something I don’t do often, like, at all.” He shakes his head, smiling. “You baffle me, _____. I’m serious. You’d give up sleep so I could go off and stargaze. You put up with all the heavy science and magical lore I throw at you. You’re working out an entirely new world, and yet you’re still compassionate and caring to others. You showed your soul to me out of curiosity. You’ve told me your darkest secrets and I’ve told you mine even though it’s only been four days. I don’t understand. How do you do it?”

Your hand finds his again. “I’m… I’m not sure. I don’t know if I’d do it for anyone else if I’m honest. I just… trust you, ya know?”

He grabs your hand and looks into your eyes. “Yeah. Yeah, I do know.” He sits up with a grunt. “I know it’s not three in the morning or anything, but… You wanna come stargazing? We can still sleep here if you like, we didn’t make this bed for nothing,” he says grinning. You chuckle slightly. He grips your hand harder, holding out his other one. “So, are you coming?”


	32. Chapter 32

“Of course I am,” you say, taking his hand. “How far out is your normal spot? How many jumps will we have to do?”

Sans thinks for a moment. “Probably three, it’s just before the woods where I found you.” He grins. “Ready?”

“Ready as I’ll ever be,” you mumble, shutting your eyes. It makes it a little easier when you aren’t trying to see the whole time.

Three jumps later and you're sat on a little hill, overlooking the forest. You gaze around. To the far right, you can see the lights of the small village of Sundin. Apart from that, there’s nothing but the black silhouettes of trees and the bright starry expanse above you. Sans flops down on the long grass. “Gonna lie down?” he asks. You sit next to him. “Alright then, suit yourself,” he says with a grin.

You roll your eyes and lie down. “Happy?” You hear a chuckle in response. You look up. You’d already seen so many stars and planets today, but it’s different to be among them than it is to look up at them. They’re so clear up here. “Without the lights and the smog of the city… man, you can see so much,” you murmur. “I haven’t been star-gazing since I was a kid.”

Sans looks over at you. “Well, never too late to start again, right? Did you ever learn the constellations?”

You shake your head. “No. I was like, five years old. All I cared was that it looked pretty and I was with my family.”

Sans nods. “Well, you see that cluster of four stars, that has the two big stars leading away from it?” He points up into the sky vaguely. You shift your head closer to his to try and follow where his arm is pointing.

“Kinda, I think so?” you mumble.

“That’s Delphinus, a dolphin.”

You laugh. “That’s not a dolphin, that’s just four stars and a line!”

Sans chuckles. “Most constellations are like that. See the three large stars in a line over there? Then a smaller one, curving off at the end?” He leans across, pointing out at the stars.

You squint. “I might be looking at the wrong four stars, but yeah, what about them?”

Sans grins. “That one is called Aries, yeah, like the star sign. It’s a ram.”

You look back at him in confusion. “That’s not a ram! Also, how do you know about horoscopes?”

Sans shrugs. “Magazines come through in waterfall. We get all sorts of human junk that they throw out. Horoscopes were one of them.” Sans sighs sadly. “We used to have a cave that had a bunch of shining rocks on the ceiling. We used to think they were stars.” He shakes his head. “They were nothing compared to this.”

You try to imagine a dark cave with some glowing rocks. You just can’t possibly think of them as stars. “I’ve grown up with this all my life. I grew up with sunsets and sunrises, the moon, the stars, the wind and rain… We don’t really think of it as lucky. We kinda… take it for granted,” you mumble.

Sans raises his eyebrows. “Really? What did you do instead?”

You sigh, staring up at the stars. “I stayed inside, reading, going online, drawing sometimes, I dunno. The only time I really went outside was to get groceries.”

Sans looks over at you. “You know, I can kinda see where you’re coming from, but at the same time, do you know how long we spent outside in that first week? Hell, even month? Most of us stayed in the sunlight every hour we could.” He coughs. “I- I’ll admit it, I didn’t. I just wanted to go back home and curl up into a ball. Still do sometimes, just not as much.” He shakes his head. “Humanity took it for granted. Nothing against that, I can see why, but at the same time… How could you guys not stare at the night sky?”

You bite your lip. The way Sans says it makes you feel guilty. It probably shouldn’t, he isn’t directing it at you, but all the same, you did take it for granted. “We just… we got used to it being there. Do you look at snow in wonder?” you ask, fishing around for something that might make your point valid.

Sans laughs. “No, I hate it, it gets in the way of everything and it’s cold and wet. It’s not fun.”

That was a little more negative than the answer you’d expected, but either way, it got the point across quite nicely. “Well, I’m fascinated by it. I’ve only seen snow once in my life and it was beautiful, all crisp and clean and white. It was almost magical. I wish I could have seen it more often. But you don’t like snow because it gets in the way, you grew up with it, it’s normal.”

Sans pauses. “Ok, I see your point.”

You sigh. “But, now that I’m here… I’m starting to see the beauty in things again. You talk about it in a way that brings new… life to it. I start to see the stars the way you do, feel the breeze like it’s the first time. It’s weird. It’s different.” You pause. “I like it.”

Sans chuckles. “You challenge a lot of my ideas too, _____. You’ve really made me think about magic a lot harder than I used to. You’ve made me realise that coming to the surface was crucial. Some of the people up here are cruel, but a lot of them… well a lot of them aren’t. There are people that need monsters, even if we don’t know what will happen to us. If you came here, lost and looking for a way out, who knows who else might need the same thing?”

You murmur in agreement. “You said you didn’t want to come up here?” you ask softly.

Sans grins sheepishly. “Well, it, it was different. I don’t really like things changing. I was actually secretly really glad when Papyrus said we should make exactly the same house.”

You whip your head around to stare at him. “You made that house?”

Sans chuckles. “Nah, that was all Papyrus. A bit of my blue magic, but you know me. I’m too lazy for that. Besides, we come from the Underground, we didn’t exactly have any base for civilization.”

“That’s insane,” you mumble. “How long did it take?”

Sans shrugs. “Not really sure. I wasn’t paying attention. Hell, it might not be ‘technically’ finished even now. Every so often Papyrus’ll add something else to the house.”

You shake your head. “That’s so strange, I can’t really imagine something like a house being made by one person.”

Sans chuckles. “Well, we do have magic, remember. Sometimes Paps would bring Toriel or Asgore over to help set stone and stuff with their fire magic. It was quite the ordeal.”

“You guys are incredible. It’d be impossible for a human to do something li-”

“Shh, listen…” Sans murmurs quietly. You pause, listening to the sounds around you. Wind whistling through the trees, shifting the long grass around the two of you. You close your eyes. You hear the sound of a cricket chirping nearby, the sound of a far off stream burbles ever so softly. The hooting of an owl and the woosh of wings sounds nearby. The chirrup of a lizard. The sound of your breathing. “Beautiful, isn’t it?” Sans asks softly.

“Mm.” You’d never really noticed those sounds. When you’d first left New York, it had been difficult to get used to the idea that cars weren’t driving by every second of the day and night. It had been uncomfortably quiet, no background noise. It had been unsettling. After a week, you’d become used to it. Now, as you lie there, you realise that there is background noise. It’s just quieter. Softer. And even then, you know you aren’t hearing half of the noises that make up the forest. Somewhere, a field mouse would be scuttling along the forest floor. Birds roosting in their trees would shift their wings, leaves fall to the ground. If only you had the ears to hear it. The ants and beetles would scuttle along, their feet tapping along the ground. But you would never be able to hear such a tiny noise. Thinking on that, you wonder how you would go if you went back into the city. You can’t see the stars there. You can’t hear the whispering wind. You can only keep your head down and hear the cars go screaming by. It’s different. You don’t know if you’d cope with it anymore.

“_____?” Sans asks, breaking you out of your thoughts.

“Yeah, what?” you ask, opening your eyes again.

“Oh, ok, you are awake. I was wondering if you were asleep.”

“Nah,” you say, stretching slightly. “Just listening and thinking.”

Sans smiles slightly, then gets up. “Well, I think we should probably head back to the house. Did… Did you like it?” he asks nervously.

You raise an eyebrow. “Did I like it? Of course I did. It’s beautiful out here. Just hope I don’t get too many bug bites,” you mumble.

Sans looks confused as he offers you his hand. “Bugs bite?” he asks.

You snort slightly, taking his hand and getting up. “Oh, forgot you wouldn’t get those. You’re a skeleton. Yeah, some bugs bite. Flees, mosquitoes, sandflies, ants… Most bugs do but some of them suck blood and that’s their food. So we humans just get little itchy bumps where they bit. It’s annoying, but nothing too serious.”

Sans shakes his head, bewildered. “Damn. Must suck.”

You roll your eyes. “You just couldn’t go the whole time without at least ONE pun, could you?”

Sans grins. “Nah. You wanna do this again?” he asks.

“Of course, we can do it again tomorrow night if you like,” you say.

Sans nods. “Cool, ready to go back?”

You shrug. “Yeah, so long as we do come back here. I like it. It’s peaceful.”

Sans chuckles. “I know, I fell asleep out here one time. That wasn’t a fun experience when I got home the next day.”

You laugh. “Papyrus?”

Sans nods. “Yup. You ready?” You nod. “Let’s go.”

You land safely in Sans’ room, not feeling at all queasy. “You know, I think the slow exposure to this is working, I don’t feel at all sick and dizzy.”

Sans flops onto his bed. “Awesome. Now, we going to sleep or what?”

You nod. “Yeah, but first I gotta get changed, I’ll be back.” You quickly duck into your room, chuckling slightly when you think about Sans’ accidental slip about the two of you sleeping together. You get changed and pad back over to the door. You turn the handle, but the door doesn’t open. It’s locked. You knock on the door.

“Who’s there?”

“Real funny, Sans,” you huff.

“Real funny Sans who?” he responds.

You roll your eyes. “Real funny Sans who better let me in right now.”

There was a pause. “That wasn’t a joke. Do better. Try again.”

“Ugh, fine.” You know you won’t get in unless you actually make a joke. “Knock knock.”

“Who’s there?” You can practically hear the grin in his voice.

“Are you.”

“Are you who?”

“Are you a German sausage, because you’re the Wurst,” you grumble. There’s a stifled chuckle from behind the door. “Can I please come in?”

He pauses. “Nah, you just used that opportunity to insult me.”

You huff. “Yeah, you’re being annoying, I think that’s fair play.”

“Nah, that’s chicken sport.”

“What?”

“It’s fowl play.”

You sigh loudly. “The goddamn puns!” you grumble, though you had to admit, that one wasn’t horrendous and made you smile slightly. “Let me in.”

“Where are your manners?” he teases.

“Inside, so I need to come get them,” you retort.

He chuckles. “Alright, you can come in, but you better say sorry and thank you!”

The door opens and you walk in. “Sorry for what?”

Sans grins at you. “For insulting me.”

You narrow your eyes at him. “Well sorry for being accurate.”

Sans clucks his tongue. “You lied about your manners being in here.”

You grin. “Yeah, and you lied about being offended. You laughed, I heard you.”

“I chuckled. There’s a difference.”

“Same thing,” you say, flapping your hand. “Move over, it’ll be a little bit squishy.”

Sans shrugs, scooching over to the wall. “Is that a problem?”

“Nah,” you say. “After all, it’s just us.”

“Yeah,” Sans chuckles. “Just us.”


	33. Chapter 33

“-AND THEY AREN’T IN THE KITCHEN OR THE LOUNGE ROOM OR _____’S ROOM OR-” The door flies open and you sleepily open your eyes. “NEVERMIND, I FOUND THEM!” Papyrus says, a phone to his ear. “THANK YOU LADY ASGORE FOR YOUR CONCERN!”

_Lady Asgore? Does he mean Toriel?_

The curtains swish open as Papyrus flings them aside with his magic.“AHEM, _____! SANS! IT IS TIME TO WAKE UP! IT IS MY DAY OFF AND I PLAN TO SHOW YOU WONDERFUL THINGS! I CAN FINALLY SHOW YOU MY EPIC PUZZLES! MAKE HASTE!” he calls, turning on his heel and walking out the door.

“Sans,” you mumble, rolling over. You teeter dangerously on the edge of the bed, a sharp wave of panic spiking in your chest as you grip the side to stop yourself from tumbling onto the floor. “Holy sh*t…” you mumble. “I forgot it was so small…”

“S’everythin alright?” Sans mumbles sleepily. He opens his eyes and grins. “Yeah, s’only a single bed. You seem almost… floored at that.”

You huff, shifting yourself back onto the mattress. “I hate you sometimes,” you grumble. “Papyrus has the day off, said something about his puzzles?”

Sans chuckles. “Ah. Yeah, he always takes one day off every month or so. We call it his ‘Sans’ day.” He grins as he sits up, stretching and cracking his bones. “It used to be so necessary that I’d have to physically hold him down in the house. Now, he just takes it as normal.” Sans shoves you gently. “Come on, get up, I’m trapped here until you move.”

You roll away from the edge. “Not unless you climb over me,” you mumble sleepily.

Sans sighs. “I didn’t want to have to do this, _____,” he says. Suddenly you can’t move. You feel your heart rate jump. You’re looking down at the mattress.

_Calm down, Sans wouldn’t hurt you… He cares for you, he wouldn’t harm you… He cares._

_Does he?_

_Of course he does!_

Soon enough, you’re gently placed back down on the mattress. Sans is standing beside the bed. “But I will move you if you don’t move yourself,” he teases.

You wait for your heartbeat to slow back down before responding. “Noted,” you pant.

Sans looks back at you. “You ok? You sound out of breath.”

You shake your head slightly. “I’m fine,” you mumble. “That… was just unexpected, I think.” You roll over onto your back. “At least I’m awake now.”

Sans chuckles. “Yeah, ok, come on, Papyrus will be eager to ge-”

“HEYA PUNK!”

You sit up in the bed. “Undyne?” you ask. Sans nods and jerks his head to the door quickly. You jump out of the bed and quickly duck into your room, shutting the door mere moments before you hear footsteps walking up the stairs. You get dressed and rake your fingers through your hair. It’ll be enough until you can grab the hairbrush in the bathroom. You cautiously step out of your room only to be glomped in a hug from Undyne.

“Hey!! Haven’t seen you in what, two days?!” she says loudly, letting you go.

You nod, rubbing your ribs. “Yeah, you came over for twi- mixer,” you mumble, remembering that they call it by a different name.

“OH YEAH!” she calls. “You guys fixed the door suuuper quick then!”

“BUT OF COURSE, UNDYNE! THE GREAT PAPYRUS WOULDN’T SETTLE FOR LESS!”

“Actually, I was the one who fixed the door,” Sans pipes up, appearing suddenly behind Undyne.

She jumps slightly. “I hate how you do that,” she mumbles. “And hang on, since when did you care about the upkeep of the house?” She narrows her eyes at him suspiciously.

Sans grins. “Eh, I wouldn’t take it as anything fishy if I were you.” You hear Papyrus sigh from behind him.

Undyne frowns. “I am a fish, goddammit! Everything I do is fishy!”

Sans winks. “That’s the point.”

You clear your throat. “So, Papyrus, what are we doing today?”

Papyrus perks up excitedly. “WELL, IN MY SPARE TIME, I HAVE BEEN WORKING ON SOME EXCELLENT PUZZLES!!”

“Come on, man! I HATE puzzles!” Undyne cries.

“DON’T INTERRUPT ME!” Papyrus cries. “BESIDES, YOU DON’T HAVE TO DO THEM, YOU JUST HAVE TO APPRECIATE THEM!! PUZZLES HAVE ALWAYS BEEN MEANT FOR HUMANS, NOT MONSTERS!”

“We still had to do them though,” Sans points out. “Yeah, they did make it harder for humans, but we still had to do them to get to places.” He pauses. “Well, I didn’t, but most people did.”

“Yeah, and it SUCKED!” Undyne cries.

“WHAT WE WILL BE DOING TODAY,” Papyrus cries out indignantly, frustrated at being interrupted so many times. “IS VERY SIMPLE. WE SHALL FIRSTLY, MAKE SOME SNACKS. THE GREAT _____ CAN BE IN CHARGE OF SUCH MATTERS AS SHE IS BETTER THAN EVEN ME IN THE KITCHEN!” You look down at your feet. You never really know how to take compliments, especially not one so bold as that. “NEXT, WE SHALL TRAVEL THROUGH THE TOWN TO GET TO MY PUZZLE LOCATION!” Sans goes to say something but Papyrus cuts him off with the answer. “NO, YOU ARE NOT GOING TO USE YOUR SHORTCUTS, WALKING IS GOOD FOR YOU AND _____ MIGHT DIE!!”

“Actually…” you mumble. Papyrus turns to you expectantly, as does Undyne. “I can do it now. Sans and I have been travelling in smaller jumps, and I’m getting better with it. I can do pretty big ones now.”

Undyne raises her eyebrows smugly at Sans and Papyrus huffs. “STILL, THAT’S NO EXCUSE TO NOT WALK! WE SHALL BE WALKING THROUGH TOWN. FINALLY, WE SHALL PICK UP THE BRILLIANT MK AND FRISK TO FINISH OFF ALL THE SNACKS THAT WE DON’T EAT DURING THE DAY.” Papyrus looks pointedly at Sans, who merely grins back at his brother.

“Sounds like a plan,” Sans grins. “_____, think you’re up for a challenge?”

Your head snaps up to glare at him. “If you’re talking about those awful puns and push-ups you and Undyne gave me the other day, then think again. I won’t be tormented in my own goddamn kitchen!”

“YOUR kitchen, hmm?” Undyne smirks.

Sans shrugs. “It kinda is, I think. Paps don’t have sole ownership of it, and besides, he just said she’s in charge.”

Undyne huffs. “Alright then, fine.” She turns around, still grumbling about how you and Sans don’t know what fun is and walks off down the stairs.

You sigh. “What sort of snacks are we thinking?”

“CELERY AND CARROT STICKS!” Undyne cries.

“BUT UNDYNE, YOU HATE CELERY!” Papyrus calls back, walking down after her.

“YEAH, BUT SANS HATES THEM MORE!” she yells.

“Man, anything to spite me, huh?” Sans calls, following after Papyrus and gesturing for you to come too.

“YEP!!!”

“UNDYNE, WE DON’T EVEN HAVE CELERY.”

“Yeah, uh, guys?” you pipe up. “I was thinking more, like, cupcakes, biscuits, that sort of thing.”

“But Sans would be happy then!” Undyne points out.

“So what?” Sans teases back. “Still mad that I beat you at mixer without taking off any limbs?”

“YES!!” she cries out.

“HEY!” you yell. “Calm down.”

All three of the monsters look at you in shock. “_____, I don’t think I’ve ever heard you yell,” Sans mumbles. “I don’t think I want to ever again.”

You swallow nervously. “I don’t like to yell, sorry,” you murmur.

“SORRY?! FUH HAH HAH! THAT WAS GREAT!” Undyne cries out loudly. “You should do it more!”

“Not just to piss off Sans?” you ask.

Undyne cackles. “That’s just a plus.”

“WHAT ARE WE MAKING TODAY, _____?” Papyrus asks.

“Umm, well, if you can get the flour, Undyne can…” You pause. You were about to say she can grab the eggs, but you aren’t sure if she can be trusted with that. “Can… get the bowls,” you say cautiously. “Sans, you can heat up the oven to 350 degrees.”

“There’s numbers on the oven??” Undyne asks, grabbing out all the bowls she can find, including the dinner bowls, a dog bowl and a fishbowl with a small goldfish swimming around inside it. “Huh. Maybe that’s why my house went up in flames.”

“Wha-what?” you ask, stunned.

She dumps all the bowls on the bench, taking up about half of it. “Yeah, I set my house on fire one time with Frisk. Man, that was awkward! I had to camp out at these guys’ house!”

Papyrus brought out the flour, sugar and eggs, even though you hadn’t asked for them all yet. “UNDYNE, YOU BARELY STAYED WITH US FOR A WEEK.”

“Yeah, it was awkward cuz I didn’t stay longer!” she teased.

You stare at the bowls and think quietly about how she set her house on fire. “Hey, uhhh, you know what, I actually cook better when I’m alone or with like, one other person in the kitchen, so uhh-”

Undyne quickly gets the hint, but maybe she misinterpreted it slightly. “Oh yeah!! Papyrus, have you seen the new Mettaton release yet?!” she asks enthusiastically, grabbing his arm and dragging him out of the kitchen with a wink at you.

“B-BUT UNDYNE! YOU HATE METTATON’S SHOW!” he stutters as he’s dragged along to the lounge room.

“Eh, doesn’t matter, this one was great!” she says, switching on the TV and putting one of the many discs into the player.

You breathe a sigh of relief. Now you can get down to cooking. “Anything I can help with, or should I head over there too?” Sans asks.

You glance at the pile of bowls. “Uhh… could you…?” You don’t finish your question before he starts putting them away with his magic.

“Grab the ones you want, I’ll deal with the rest,” he grins. You nod and get to work, finding the butter and milk and grabbing utensils.

“Hey, while I’m doing these cupcakes, would you mind making some biscuits?” you ask, making a large batch of mixture.

“Sure, can I use a recipe though?” Sans teases. “I don’t carry them all in my brain.”

You shrug. “Go for it, cupcakes are easy to remember, everything is equal amounts.”

Sans pauses, taking that information in and he nods. “Good to know.”

You quickly realise that his recipe might not be ok. "It better not have any ketchup in it."

Sans chuckles. "Noted."

The two of you cook in comfortable silence, only ever interrupted by Undyne complaining that nothing’s happening. “He’s just lying there! That’s not talent!” she complains yet again.

“UNDYNE, DON’T YOU SEE?! THE WAY HE HAS POSITIONED HIMSELF ATOP OF THAT PIANO IS SO ELEGANT, SEE HOW HIS LEGS DANGLE GRACEFULLY?? NO ONE ELSE COULD DO THAT SO WELL AS METTATON! IT’S ALL IN THE ART!”

“I swear, I could do just as well and I’m not made of metal,” Undyne grumbles. “Alphys would say so!”

“YES, BUT ALPHYS IS A BIASED SOURCE!” Papyrus exclaims. You glance out the door to see Undyne looking highly offended.

“Oh boy,” Sans mutters, watching them as well. “Looks like we have a battle on our hands.”


	34. Chapter 34

“Take that back!” Undyne cries. “She’s not biased!”

Papyrus huffs. “OF COURSE SHE IS! SHE’S YOUR GIRLFRIEND!”

You put down the cupcake batter and wander out into the lounge room. “But she also made Mettaton! SHE LIKES US BOTH!” Undyne yells, standing up with a blue spear in her hand.

Papyrus stands up with dramatic flair, one hand on his hip. “UNDYNE, YOU FAIL TO REALISE THAT SHE AND METTATON HAVE A ROUGH FRIENDSHIP! YOU HAVE TOLD ME THIS BEFORE! HOWEVER, SHE MOST ASSUREDLY LOVES YOU! THEREFORE, SHE IS BIASED! NYEH HEH HEH!”

Sans moves beside you. “They’re about to have a battle,” he hisses. “This’ll be a treat.”

A light glow comes from in front of Papyrus and a similar glow from Undyne. It comes from an upside-down heart that glows in front of her, hovering in the air. Papyrus has his back to you, but you can assume it’s the same for him. Sans was right about souls in a battle sense. It’s not an intimate moment for anyone. A faint [tune ](https://youtu.be/G-eMkeurxgY?t=17)starts up. “SHE IS NOT BIASED, SHE’S A SCIENTIST!” Undyne cries.

“Oh man, there’s theme music!” Sans mumbles. “That means it’s serious.”

“SO IS SANS, BUT HE IS EXTREMELY BIASED WHEN IT COMES TO THE PEOPLE HE LOVES! ALPHYS IS BIASED AND THERE’S NOTHING MORE TO IT!” Papyrus calls.

“YOU’LL PAY FOR THAT!” Undyne cries back, launching a wave of small white spears directly for Papyrus.

Papyrus sidesteps the bullets and raises his hand. Bones come out of the floor and he pushes them towards Undyne. “NO I SHAN’T, I WAS TRAINED BY THE BEST OF THE BEST!” he declares loudly.

The music swells and the beat starts getting louder and harder. “I TRAINED YOU!” Undyne shrieks, jumping over the bone wave. She launches her spear before she even hits the ground, landing with one arm on the ground and another spear already in hand.

Papyrus takes the hit. “WOWIE UNDYNE, YOU’RE SO STRONG!” he calls, waving his hand with a flourish. “BUT I HAVE A SPECIAL ATTACK COMING UP FOR YOU!”

“NGAAAHHHH!” Undyne yells out, her soul turning a deep blue colour. She launches another wave of arrows at him, fighting to stay upright. The light in front of Papyrus turned green, so you can only assume that his soul is that colour too. He doesn’t seem to be able to dodge now and gets pelted with small arrows.

“UNDYNE, YOU ARE NO MATCH FOR THE GREAT PAPYRUS AND HIS ARGUMENTS!” he cries, firing six consecutive waves of bones. Undyne jumps and ducks between them flawlessly, sweating and straining, but not taking a single hit of damage.

“Is that all you got?!” she taunts, spinning her large blue spear around effortlessly, sending out more arrows. They swirl around Papyrus, attacking him from all different sides. He pulls up bones to block them.

“NYEH!” Papyrus cries in alarm as a golden arrow shoots straight for him. You gasp; he hasn’t moved the bones to protect himself! At the very last moment, the arrow shoots around and targets the back, right where he was protecting.

“That golden arrow is sneaky,” you say to Sans, not too concerned about Undyne and Papyrus hearing you - their battle music is far too loud at this point. “Also, when will they stop?” you ask, a little nervously as Undyne throws three large blue spears at Papyrus at once. Two of them hit him as he ducks the third one.

Sans shrugs. “I dunno, but this is kinda normal. They usually battle each other and they spare each other when they don’t wanna keep going. Of course, that usually means that they both end up at one HP and nearly dead, but…” Sans shrugs. “They haven’t died yet, and I trust Undyne.”

“TRY AND DODGE THIS UNDYNE!!” Papyrus cries loudly, a floor to ceiling bone coming straight at her with more smaller bones following it.

“Ngah!” Undyne staggered back as it hit her, her soul flickering momentarily before settling back down again. “Fuh hah hah hah! You think THAT’S BAD?!” she bellows, a gleam shining in her eyes.

“Ok, I think I might need to step in,” Sans mutters. “I don’t need them eating all the food in the house and more to heal themselves.” Papyrus was readying another attack, flourishing his hands with his cape flying out behind him. “Ok, ok, shows over,” Sans calls, walking into the midst of the fray. Papyrus immediately lowers his attacks. Sans dodges a spear from Undyne. “Not cool,” he reprimands.

“UNDYNE YOU CAN’T JUST DO THAT, HE COULD DIE IF YOU HIT HIM!” Papyrus squawks.

“Oh sh- I’m sorry...” Undyne stops immediately, eyes wide.

“Die?” you ask timidly.

“Yeah, 1 HP remember,” he says.

You nod. “Right. And it’s normal to have 20, yeah?” Sans nods slowly, warning you not to go much further with this conversation.

“Ehhh, unless you train,” Undyne says. “I’ve trained so hard that it’s over a thousand by now!” she declares proudly.

“WELL FROM THAT BATTLE, IT WAS 1508! YOU’RE STILL GROWING STRONGER!” Papyrus cries excitedly.

“Heh, yeah, of course I am!” She grins. “Are those snacks ready? I could really do with some food…”

You jolt. “Oh! No, I uh, we stopped to watch you guys battle…” you say guiltily.

Undyne throws back her head and laughs. “Fuh hah hah! Of course you did! We’re pretty incredible, even if it’s me talking.”

Sans rolls his eyes. “Let’s just hope we never have to test if I’m better or not.”

Undyne snorts. “Puh-lease, you never train with Papyrus and me, you don’t fight!”

“THAT’S BECAUSE HE MIGHT DIE!!” Papyrus cries frantically. “ONLY I CAN TRAIN WITH HIM, I HAVE LEARNT TO STOP MID-ATTACK TO MAKE SURE NO ONE GETS HURT!”

Undyne chuckles slightly. “Yeah, that used to be so annoying, you were there to PROTECT monsters from the humans.” She grins at you. “Turns out that you guys are actually nice.”

You chuckle awkwardly. “Thanks, I guess.” You notice Sans’ eyes go black for a moment. “Well, I need to get the batter in the oven, Sans you gonna help?” you ask gently.

He jolts up. “Huh? Oh, sure,” he mumbles, walking back into the kitchen with you. You see Undyne nudge Papyrus and whisper something to him.

“I don’t think it’s like that Undyne,” he ‘whispers’, though as it’s Papyrus, it’s just normal speaking volume.

“Sans, are you ok?” you murmur.

Sans sighs. “Yeah, that just…” He looks up at you and shrugs. “Well, you know. It just took me back to that forest.”

You nod, tapping your fingers nervously on the bench beside you. “Y-yeah, I did wonder that. You need anything?” you ask softly. He looks up at you uncertainly, then shrugs and holds out his arms. You raise an eyebrow and move towards him uncertainly. “You want a hug?” you mumble softly. He nods sheepishly. You move forward and hug him.

He wraps his arms around you and buries his face into your neck. “I just really hate that dream,” he mumbles. “I hate it even more because I know it happened.”

“But it didn’t,” you murmur. “You told me that you remember that Frisk never killed Papyrus.”

Sans grips you tighter to himself. “But what if they did in a timeline I don’t remember?” he hisses.

You shake your head. “It’s not now, and besides, if you remembered one when he nearly died, you would definitely remember one where he did.”

Sans takes a deep breath and then pulls away. “I suppose you’re right.” He swipes a hand over his face, even though he hadn’t been crying. “Anyway, his kindness did work out for him… Thankfully.” He shakes his head. “Let’s get these bad boys in the oven,” he says louder.

“OHH! CAN I HELP?!” Undyne cries.

You look at Sans nervously. He shakes his head, waving his hand across his throat. The universal signal for ‘Hell no!’. You think that’s a smart idea. “Uhh, no, we’re all good in here!” you say sweetly, hoping that Undyne won’t take that the wrong way. “Oh who am I kidding, of course she’ll think this is romantic,” you mutter under your breath.

Sans snorts. “Ah, yeah, she probably will.” Sans shrugs. “At this point, I honestly don’t care.”

You raise an eyebrow, pouring out the batter in the cupcake pan. “You hated it like, what, 3 days ago?” you mumble.

Sans grins. “A lot has happened in those three days, _____. But yeah, after hearing it constantly from that one,” he says, jerking his head to the door and clearly meaning Undyne, “I kinda got used to it. Besides, it’s not the worst rumour,” he says nonchalantly.

You shift slightly. Since seeing Sans’ soul, you’ve felt a lot closer to him, that much is true. But… Was it anything special like that? You were with Todd for so long that you aren’t really quite sure what love is anymore. Either way, it shouldn’t make you feel sick the way that Todd did, you know that much for certain. “I suppose not,” you mumble stiffly.

“HEY GUYS! COME OUT HERE, QUICK! ALPHYS IS CALLING!” Undyne cries. “HEY BABE!”

You stick the tray into the oven and Sans does the same before heading out to where Undyne and Papyrus sit crowded around the phone. “H-hi!” The nervous voice of Alphys comes out of the phone.

“HELLO, DOCTOR ALPHYS!” Papyrus calls loudly.

“O-oh, hi Papyrus!” she says timidly.

“HAVE YOU BEEN DOING YOUR SELF-POSITIVITY EXERCISES?!” he asks excitedly.

“W-well, I uh… n-not really…” she mumbles.

“WELL, I GUESS WHEN YOU COME UP TOMORROW, WE CAN DO THEM ALL TOGETHER!” Papyrus says happily. “I’M SURE _____ WOULD BE THRILLED TO JOIN IN!”

Sans snickers at your wide-eyed fear. “Oh! Uhhh, i-is Sans and _____ there too?” Alphys asked.

“Yeah, they’re here, they were just cooking in the kitchen together. Cuz apparently they don’t want Papyrus or my help,” Undyne teases.

“O-oh! So that could mean that th- oh, w-wait, you said they were th-there, d-didn’t you?”

Sans grins at you. “Yeah, we’re here.”

“Uhhh, n-nevermind th-then!” Alphys says sheepishly. “I th-think it was a s-smart idea to not l-let Undyne c-cook if I’m honest…”

“Hey! Have some faith, Alphy!” Undyne calls. “Tori said that she’d help Papyrus and I do it better! And now I know that there are numbers on the oven! Who knew, right?!”

“Everyone knew Undyne,” Alphys mutters, slightly annoyed. “B-but, how is everything g-going? U-up there, I mean.”

“Oh, everything’s fine!” Undyne says. “Papyrus said that you’re biased towards me compared to Mettaton and I stood up for you, so we had a fight, but otherwise it’s all great!”

Alphys chuckles awkwardly from the phone. “Eh heh heh, th-thanks Undyne, b-but, he is right, it’s a d-different relationship…”

“SEE UNDYNE, I TOLD YOU SO! THE GREAT PAPYRUS IS RIGHT AGAIN!”

Undyne rolls her eyes and groans. “Whatever, I suppose if she says so, it is. Is that all or did you wanna have a chat?”

There’s a pause. “Are… Are Sans and _____ still there?” she asks softly.

You snicker slightly and Sans chuckles. “Yup, still here. We can head back into the kitchen if you like,” he says grinning.

“N-no no! It’s, it’s ok!” Alphys cries out. “Oh god, you think I hate you now, don’t you?”

“No, we don’t we just… Have an idea of what you might want to discuss,” you say carefully. Sans bites back his laughter.

“I can take you off speakerphone, Alphy, it’ll just be me,” Undyne says, glaring at you playfully. You stick your tongue out and Sans chuckles. “So, what is it?”

Sans rolls his eyes. “Come on, those biscuits are thin and don’t take long. We better check ‘em.”

You nod. “Yeah. I swear, if I catch you eating them with ketchup…” you grumble, walking back into the kitchen.

“You’ll what, scold me?” Sans teases, peering into the oven.

You shrug. “Sure. I might yell at you if it pisses me off enough.”

Sans freezes. “No ketchup, got it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, a new chapter and an interesting take on a monster battle. Tell me what you think a monster battle would look like if you want, I'm interested in what you guys think. Also, I really wanted to create a mix of Bonetrousled (Papyrus's theme song) and Spear of Justice/Battle of a True Hero (Undyne's two battle theme songs), but I didn't realise how hard it is to use mixing software. It's just not my thing, unfortunately. So I found a pretty amazing substitute! I figured that if two bosses fight each other, a mixture of the two songs would play. The song I found is Bonetrousled, but it's done in the style of Battle of a True Hero, so I think it's pretty accurate. NOT MY SONG. Go check it out though.
> 
> Also, I've realised that every time I draw Undyne, I draw her differently. This is probably the closest to her in-game sprite that I've ever done. Also, I actually really like drawing Undyne for some reason. Probably because she's the most humanly proportioned monster in the game. Also, really love the pose I did for her!


	35. Chapter 35

“COME ALONG SANS! IT’S NOT FAR NOW!” Papyrus calls over his shoulder, walking at least 100 feet ahead of you and Sans. Neither of you are fairing particularly well after walking for an hour or more through a very specific pathway in the woods.

“OH MY GOD, YOU GUYS ARE SO SLOOOOOOW!” Undyne yells from somewhere in the distance. You honestly don’t know, nor care where she is at this point. Every five minutes or so, she comes running back anyway because she doesn’t know which way she’s going. She must’ve yelled out on her return journey, because she suddenly appears between the trees, still jogging. Your feet hurt, and you’re kind of grumpy with all this walking and ‘encouragement’ from Undyne. She’s not even offering to carry the large basket of baked goods.

“It would’ve been so much quicker to jump,” Sans grumbles under his breath as Undyne goes sprinting past again. “I’m tempted to ignore what I said earlier about no ketchup.”

You heave a loud sigh. “Sans, I will scream if you do that after we’ve walked all this way, forget about yelling.”

Sans glances at you warily. “Ok, you’re actually serious about that, alright,” he mumbles.

“UNDYNE, STOP!!” Papyrus yells out. You can barely see Papyrus through the trees by this point. “YOU’VE GONE TOO FAR!!”

“Oh thank god,” Sans mutters. “I thought we’d be walking forever.”

“WHERE ARE SANS AND _____??” Undyne yells, though her voice sounds faint on the wind.

“STILL RIGHT BEHIND ME,” Papyrus says, without checking the veracity of that statement. The gap has widened significantly over the last 30 minutes.

“Screw it, let’s just at least teleport to where they are,” Sans mutters, holding out his hand. You take it gratefully, balancing the large basket on your hip under one arm. The jump is quick and you feel no nausea at all. “Hey guys.”

Papyrus jumps slightly. “SANS! DON’T DO THAT!!” he yells crossly.

Sans grins. “Didn’t mean to rattle your bones,” he teased. “Just got tired of walking.”

“YOU WERE 50 METERS AWAY. YOU’RE SO LAZY!!” Papyrus huffed. “BUT EITHER WAY, WE’RE-”

“Man, you guys slowed us down SOOOOOO much,” Undyne complained.

“-ALL HERE NOW,” Papyrus finished, annoyed that he was interrupted. “LET US HAVE OUR PICNIC!!”

You raise your eyebrows at Sans. “If I’d known it was a picnic, I would’ve made things other than cake and cookies.”

Sans grins. “Eh, I’m fine with that. And I don’t hear Undyne complaining.”

You snicker slightly, watching Undyne set up the blanket Papyrus had brought. “That’s all she’s been doing for the past hour.”

“Well it’s hardly my fault you guys are really unfit!” she crows.

“All it means is that I got better magic than you!” Sans fires back. It’s a childish taunt and she just sticks her tongue out at him for it. You get the feeling that Sans is only really her friend because she’s Papyrus’ friend. Even so, they get along… reasonably. Almost like a brother and sister.

“WELL! THE BLANKET IS READY TO BE LADENED WITH SNACKS!! _____!! IT IS YOUR DUTY TO LAY THEM AS NEATLY AS YOU LIKE!” He leans over and ‘whispers’, “Though, Sans won’t care how neat it is at all. EVEN IF IT IS NOT TO MY USUAL STANDARDS, I SHAN’T JUDGE YOU EITHER!” he proclaims proudly. “AFTER ALL, NOT EVERYONE IS AS GREAT AS PAPYRUS WHEN IT COMES TO BEING NEAT AND TIDY.”

You smile at him, putting the basket down. “Thanks Papyrus, I’ll try to make it neat.” You kneel down on the blanket, putting out plates of cookies and cupcakes. You try to make it as symmetrical as possible. You wouldn’t usually care emphatically, but it does make it look nicer than just putting them down haphazardly. You can hear Sans and Papyrus talking not too far away. Well, you can mostly hear Papyrus.

“Are you sleeping better??” he asks in a loud whisper.

Sans responds in a much quieter voice that you can barely hear over the sound of Undyne doing pushups. “Yeah, I am.”

“Is it because of _____?” Papyrus’ voice is unfortunately loud, but luckily Undyne isn’t paying attention. You have your back to Sans, but you can tell he’s watching both you and Undyne very carefully. You try to act natural, but it’s always harder to act natural than it is to just be natural.

“I think so,” he murmurs, so softly you can barely hear it. “She’s helped with nightmares.”

“YOU HAD-!” Papyrus suddenly realises how loud he’s being in his panic and goes back down to his ‘whisper’. “You had a nightmare?? Why didn’t you tell me?!” he demands as quietly as he can, which as you know by now, isn’t very quiet.

“Well, I had _____, I didn’t want to worry you as well.”

You shift slightly on the pretence of fixing up a plate to be more in line with the others in its row. You can see Sans and Papyrus out of the corner of your eye. Papyrus looks like he’s deliberating something. “I understand that you do not want to worry me. But! Worry not, brother, for I, the great Papyrus, just want to know if you have them! _____ is already there to help you with them, therefore, I don’t need to worry!” His whispering is slightly louder as he proclaims these bold statements.

“Ok, bro. That’s true.” He sighs. You have to fight to not turn around and see what’s happening. “You know, she really is quite something.”

You blush slightly. “ _What on earth is_ that _supposed to mean??”_

“What do y- OH! UNDYNE! HELLO!” Papyrus suddenly starts talking louder again as Undyne steps around you. You watch her walk over.

“What were you guys talkin’ about?” she asks, slinging an arm around Papyrus’ shoulders.

“UHH, NOTHING! BROTHER THINGS!” Papyrus says, looking nervous. Sans isn’t with him anymore, where did he go?”

“Huh, it’s looking pretty neat,” Sans comments from directly behind you.

You jump slightly. “Don’t do that!” you hiss.

Sans grins. “What, make puns about your arrangements or jumpscare you?”

You narrow your eyes at him. “Take a wild guess.”

“Aw, come on! You can tell me!” The two of you quickly glance over to find Undyne leaning on Papyrus and looking up at him pleadingly. “Pleeeeease!”

“I better go deal with that,” Sans mutters. “Something fishy going on over here?” he asks, walking over nonchalantly.

Undyne immediately stops her pleading. “Nope,” she says, pretending she wasn’t just begging to know what the conversation was.

“Nothing humerus either, I bet,” Sans teases.

Papyrus crosses his arms. “I IGNORED THE FIRST PUN FOR YOUR BENEFIT SANS, BUT TWO IS TOO MANY!”

Sans grins. “How many too many?”

“TWO TOO MANY!”

“Like Frisk wears?” Sans teases.

Papyrus yells in frustration and Undyne starts laughing at Papyrus’ reaction. “Oh my god, you SUCK!” she cries out. “Why do you make so many puns?!”

Sans grins. You know he’s using them to distract her. “Because they’re just so pun-derful and punny to me. And you know, Papyrus loves ‘em. I’m not one to tell a fib-ula.”

Papyrus huffs and walks over to you. Undyne just facepalms. “_____! IS THE FOOD READY?!” he asks importantly.

You nod. “Yeah, I reckon it’s pretty neat.”

“That’s what I said,” Sans says with a grin, coming up beside you.

Papyrus looks down. “WOWIE! YOU’VE MANAGED TO FULFILL EVEN MY STANDARDS! HOW INCREDIBLE!!” He sits down on the corner with the name Papyrus embroidered onto it. “TAKE A SEAT! WHEREVER YOU LIKE. I HAVE TO TELL YOU ABOUT ALL THE PUZZLE I’VE THOUGHT OF FOR YOU TODAY!!” he cries excitedly.

“Ugh, if there’s no traps and fire, can I sit out??” Undyne complains, flopping down next to Papyrus at the far end.

Sans sits down beside you, reaching for one of the cookies he made. “If I do it, you do it Undyne,” he calls, munching. You take a look at the cookie. It doesn’t seem to have ketchup in it. Safe to eat.

“Yeah, but you’ve got motivation!” she teases. “A brother and a girl to impress.”

Sans snorts. “I’d never do anything to impress you.”

You try not to blush. You know Undyne means you. Sans knows Undyne means you. “SANS, UNDYNE MEANT _____.” Clearly, Papyrus knows it too. You just wish he’d left it unsaid.

Undyne grins. “Yeah, what he said.”

Sans rolls his eyes. “Quit it with the girlfriend thing.”

Undyne gasps. “I NEVER SAID ANYTHING ABOUT A GIRLFRIEND!” she cries triumphantly, slamming her hands down in front of her.

Sans sighs. “Wrong choice of words I guess,” he mutters.

Papyrus looks at her, rather concerned. “UNDYNE, YOU HAVE INFERRED IT WITH ALMOST EVERYTHING YOU HAVE SAID. IT DOESN’T MEAN ANYTHING.”

Undyne sighs and sits up properly. “Yeah, I suppose you’re right. Fine, if you do it, I’ll do it too,” she mumbles begrudgingly. “But I’m starving, are these all safe to eat?” she asks, looking pointedly at Sans.

“No ketchup, if that’s what you mean,” you tell her.

Undyne frowns. “Why on earth would you put ketchup in cookies?!”

You shrug. “I don’t know. Why would you put ketchup on coco-mmph!” Sans claps a hand over your mouth.

“She didn’t know about the cereal!” he wails jokingly, letting you go when you glare playfully at him.

Undyne cackles. “You put ketchup on cereal? You’re a hopeless cause!”

“IT’S DISGUSTING!” Papyrus calls out in agreement. “AND YOU’RE SURE HE DIDN’T PUT KETCHUP IN THE FOOD?”

You nod. “Lest he face my wrath,” you say, staring at him.

He puts his hands up in surrender. “I didn’t do it! I swear! Cross my heart!”

“You don’t have a heart! You’re a skeleton!” Undyne cries accusingly. “_____! Punish him!”

Sans grins. “Nah, for real though, I didn’t do it. I don’t really want to be yelled at by _____, I’d rather stay on her good side.”

You huff. “Good! Now shut up and eat your cookies.”


	36. Chapter 36

“Uhh?” You’re at a loss for words. “What… What is that?” You find yourself staring at the ground in front of you. Ahead is at least 200 feet of sticks and leaves and stones laid out haphazardly along the stretch of ground.

Papyrus stands proudly beside what appears to be the beginning of it, but as you’re in the middle of a forest, there are sticks, leaves and rocks everywhere. “WHY, IT IS A NATURE MAZE!” he proclaims.

Undyne groans. “I hate mazes!”

“Shut up,” Sans grumbles, jabbing her in the side. “Let him have his moment.”

Papyrus starts to explain it, oblivious to Undyne and Sans’ altercation. “YOU MUST MAKE IT TO THE END, COLLECTING ALL 20 OF THE STONES! YOU CANNOT STEP OVER THE STICKS, THEY ARE LIKE WALLS. YOU CANNOT STEP ON THE LEAVES! THEY ARE LIKE ELECTRIC SHOCKS!”

You look nervously at Sans. “Will they actually shock me if I step on a leaf??”

Sans shakes his head. “Nah, he hasn’t used that sort of magic, I can tell.”

“Well there’s no DANGER then!! That’s no fun!” Undyne whines.

Sans rolls his eyes. “Just do it, stop complaining.” Undyne huffs.

“THE PERSON TO MAKE IT TO THE FINISH IN THE LEAST AMOUNT OF TIME IS THE WINNER! NYEH HEH HEH! WHO WANTS TO GO FIRST??”

Undyne’s hand shoots up. “I’ll do it! I’m the fastest anyway,” she jeers, sticking her tongue out at Sans.

“WELL THEN! COME TO THE STARTING LINE HERE!”

Undyne walks over to where Papyrus is standing. “Hey, can you make it more fun and shoot at me if I don’t follow the rules?” she asks, grinning. Sans lifts his hand and a bone stabs her from the ground. A faint 3 pops up and then vanishes. You blink quickly. You must just being seeing things. “HEY!” she complains.

Sans grins. “What, I’m just as capable of inflicting punishment.”

“More like pun-ishment,” you mumble.

Sans snorts. “Yeah, that too.”

Papyrus pulls out a large stopwatch. “WELL, IF SANS IS ON RULE WATCH, THEN I’LL KEEP TIME! ON YOUR MARKS, GET SET, BONE!”

Undyne takes off sprinting and Sans keeps a very close eye on her. Five steps in and a wall of bones rise to meet her. “OW!” she complains. “What was that for?!”

“There’s a stick there!” Sans calls back.

“UNDYNE, YOU NEED TO PICK UP THE STONES!!!” Papyrus calls frantically.

Undyne huffs. “FINE! I’ll find them, alright?!” she says, tossing her head and turning back around.

You pace around the maze, looking at it. The leaves, which you thought would move with the wind, stay rooted to the ground exactly where they lie. Even when Undyne crunches them and a bone shoots up to jab her. Papyrus must have used magic. In some places, the maze is very narrow and you can only hope that Sans doesn’t plan on attacking you every time you misstep. Undyne seems to be struggling with the concept that she can’t just step over the sticks. Sans is laughing as he casually keeps flinging up bones that she runs into. She’s yelling in frustration, dropping rocks and trying not to curse, while Papyrus yells encouragement, jogging along beside the maze. It’s an odd friendship that these guys all have together. Even if Sans is laughing at Undyne’s misery, telling her to shut up and generally annoying her, it’s clear that he still counts her as a friend. Even though Undyne aggravates Sans intentionally, doesn’t always respect boundaries and often yells at him, it’s obvious that she counts him as a good friend too. Papyrus is the bonding glue between them, yes, but even if he wasn’t around, they might still end up as the same sort of friendship. You’re lost in this thought when Papyrus finally calls, “FINISHED!” Your head snaps up to see what’s happening. Undyne is pelting the 20 rocks into the ground in frustration. “WOWIE UNDYNE! YOU MANAGED TO DO THAT IN 10 MINUTES AND 34 SECONDS.”

“It would’ve been LESS TIME if Sans hadn’t YANKED ME INTO THE AIR AT ONE POINT!!” Undyne yells.

Sans grins. “You wanted punishment, I made it light.”

“OH MY GOD I HATE YOU AND YOU STUPID PUNS!” she fumes, stomping over to a tree stump and sitting on it moodily. “And I can’t even get you back for it!” she grumbles.

“Yeah, might die if you did that,” he chuckles, as he and Papyrus start to walk toward the start line.

“Forget might, you would!” Undyne huffs, crossing her arms and frowning.

“UNDYNE, DON’T SAY THINGS LIKE THAT!” Papyrus cries, mortified and flapping his arms around.

Sans places a hand placatingly on Papyrus’ arm. “Paps, it’s ok, she doesn’t mean it, she’s just mad. Can I try the puzzle now?”

Papyrus stops his flapping. “YES, YES OF COURSE YOU CAN SANS! IT’S… IT’S NICE THAT YOU’RE FINALLY TAKING AN INTEREST IN PUZZLES!”

Sans winks at you, telling you that he’s only really doing it for his brother. “Of course bro, you make the best puzzles in the Underground.” You follow along beside them quietly. “Hey _____, do you wanna yell at me if I step on any sticks?” he asks, finally reaching the starting line.

“You’re asking me to yell?” you chuckle. “Alright, but how about you just don’t step on the sticks?”

Papyrus has busied himself with putting the stones back in their rightful places. He trots back over, looking pleased with himself. “THE MAZE HAS BEEN RESET! IT IS READY SANS! ON YOUR MARKS, GET SET, BONE!”

Sans sets off at an average pace, just slightly faster than a walk, but not fast enough to be called a jog. He’s picking up the stones as he goes, not missing a single one. He diligently avoids the sticks to the point where you feel somewhat useless. However, he does step on one leaf. “HEY!”

Sans jumps, startled. “Jeez, alright, I didn’t realise you were taking it to heart,” he chuckles, picking up a stone and continuing on. You follow along the side of the maze, watching him carefully. He takes extra care to not step on leaves or sticks. The loud voice of Papyrus encourages him on in his perilous journey as he jogs along the other side, also watching Sans’ footsteps carefully.

“FINISHED!” he cries. You wouldn’t have known it was finished if Papyrus didn’t declare it; sticks, leaves and rocks continue on past the finish.

Undyne jumps down from her stump in a slightly better mood. “What was his time?” she asks.

“10 MINUTES AND 28 SECONDS!” Papyrus cries, looking at the watch.

“OH COME ON!!” she yells angrily, throwing a spear into a nearby tree. “HOW???”

“I picked up the rocks on the first try and didn’t run headlong into and over the sticks.”

“HE CHEATED! He didn’t have anyone punishing him when he stepped over the sticks!!” Undyne whined.

You timidly put up your hand. “I yelled at him when he stepped on a leaf.”

Undyne pauses in her rant. “That was YOU?” she asks. You nod. Undyne starts laughing. “I thought I saw him jump! I thought it had been a bird or something.”

Sans snorts. “You thought a bird screamed out ‘hey’?”

Undyne shrugged. “It just sounded like a yell to me, didn’t hear hey.”

“ANYWAY, ENOUGH OF THIS CHIT CHAT! _____ STILL NEEDS TO COMPLETE THE COURSE!”

You glance at Sans and Undyne. “Do I have a penalty if I step on any sticks or leaves?”

Undyne jumps up with a grin. “Sans did mine, you did Sans’, so it’s only fair that I do yours!!”

You pale. You might not be able to see it, but you know that your face has lost its colour. “Ah. Right. I… suppose that’s fair.”

Sans looks at you uncertainly. “Undyne, be gentle, she’s never been in combat before.”

Undyne shrugs. “Neither had Frisk, but they’re still alive, aren’t they?”

You remember Sans mentioning resets. Did they happen when Frisk died or just whenever they wanted to go back to a certain point in time? You hope it was the latter. “Yeah, but they still got pretty bent up in the process.”

You take a deep breath. “I’ll be fine, I’ll just take it slow and steady.”

Undyne grins, swinging a spear over her shoulder. “If you go too slow, I might shoot at you anyway,” she teases.

You purse your lips and nod stiffly, forcing yourself to walk back to the start line. “Noted.”

Sans looks flatly at Undyne. “Don’t worry, _____, I’ll keep an eye on your stats. She gets within 5hp, I’ll personally take her out myself.”

“Oh, way to ruin my fun,” Undyne grumbles jokingly. “Never killed a human before.” Sans glares daggers at her. Undyne frowns. “What, she knows ab-” She cuts herself off, seeing Sans expression. You look on, confused. “She doesn’t?” she asks, surprised. Sans still glares at her. “Oh sh*t man, you need to have a big conversation.

Sans glances furtively at Papyrus. He’s already out of hearing range. He wouldn’t have heard Undyne swear. “Tomorrow, today is a day of fun.”

“What- huh?” you ask, confused beyond belief.

_Is there something I don’t know about? Something to do with humans and monsters? Something to do with the war? Something to do with magic? Something to do with souls? Maybe something that happened in the war?_

“_____?? _____?!” You start and look around. Sans is calling your name and waving in front of you.

“What, is something wrong??” you ask, slightly alarmed.

Sans doesn’t say anything for a moment. “You ok _____?” Sans asks, looking at you worriedly.

You turn to look at him. “Yeah, I’m fine, why?” you murmur.

“You blanked out for a moment there. Undyne’s prepared herself for your turn in the maze. I’ll try and hold her back if it gets too bad, ok?” he says reassuringly. You nod, taking your place at the start.

“I KNOW YOU’LL DO EXCELLENTLY _____!” Papyrus calls encouragingly.

“DON’T STEP ON EVEN A TWIG OR I’LL POUND YOU TO DUST!” Undyne cries.

You know she’s just being dramatic, but it doesn’t really comfort you. Sans pats your shoulder. “I’ll keep her in line. Good luck.”

“ON YOUR MARKS, GET SET, BONE!”


	37. Chapter 37

You stare at the course for a second, trying to take in where the rocks are so you can get them the first time around. “COME ON, YOU’RE TAKING TOO LONG!” Undyne yells from the tree, readying a spear. You jump slightly and quickly start walking, watching your feet. First rock, got it! You bend down and pick it up, quickly moving on and stepping over a leaf. You suddenly bounce back from the stick you nearly stepped on as a blue spear comes flying towards your face. It narrowly misses you and your soul flickers into existence just in front of you. It doesn’t glow or hum this time, it’s just an image. It’s still slightly unnerving. And still very red.

“UNDYNE!” Sans yells crossly at her. You keep going, being a bit more careful this time. You can’t let your own soul distract you. Or the fact that Sans yelled. He never yells.

“Sorry! I thought she stepped on it!”

“Not an excuse,” Sans says, flicking a bone at her. She dodges it effortlessly.

You keep going, trying to ignore what’s going on. You can hear Papyrus following you on one side, yelling encouragement. “KEEP GOING _____! YOU’RE DOING SO WELL!” It makes you smile, knowing that Papyrus is doing his best to be encouraging. But you have to ignore it.

Undyne and Sans have stopped arguing and you hear a loud rustling of tree branches above you. You pause, holding 7 of the stones in your arms. Undyne is in another tree now, what you heard must’ve been her leaping from one to the next. You keep going. All the stones are different, and it’s so hard to tell which ones are part of the course, and which ones aren’t. 9 now, 11 to go. You make a wrong turn, finding a dead end.

“YOU NEED TO GO LEFT AT THE TWISTY STICK THAT JUTS OUT AT A 37 DEGREE ANGLE!” Papyrus calls out helpfully. It… doesn’t really help. But either way, you backtrack and, considering he doesn’t call out any more specific details, you assume you took the right turn. Well, the left turn, that is. As you’re focused on trying to find the right path, you hear a crunch as you step on a leaf. You don’t even have time to look up before a spear plunges right into your soul.

“Argh!” You cry out in pain at the sudden impact, dropping the stones. Your whole body shakes as a number 5 shows faintly in red above your soul. The pain and the shaking doesn’t last for long though, and soon you’re back on course, picking up another two stones along with the ones you already dropped.

“FIVE DAMAGE?! ARE YOU F*CKING KIDDING ME?!” Sans yells in the background, not caring for what Papyrus hears.

“OH I’M SORRY I HIT YOUR GIRLFRIEND BUT THAT’S THE POINT OF THE GAME!” Undyne screeches back.

“_____ IS NOT MY GIRLFRIEND, AND SHE’S ONLY GOT 20HP AND NO WAY TO HEAL HERSELF, I WILL NOT LET YOU KILL HER!”

Your breathing quickens and you watch your steps very carefully. You pause in the middle of an intersection and get your bearings. At least Sans would stop Undyne from _killing_ you. You take a deep breath and think about how many stones you have left to find. You had nine and picked up two more. Eleven stones, nine more to go. You can see at least eight of them in the pathway that goes directly to the finish, but there’s another one in a little corner to the right. You carefully move over to it, avoiding all sticks and leaves at any cost, whether they are the leaves that had been stuck to the ground or any other leaf. Got it! Eight more to go. You doggedly make your way through the sticks, encouragement from Papyrus being yelled in your direction and the sounds of Sans and Undyne arguing in the distance. Even though Sans has her well distracted, you don’t want to risk another spear thrown your way, so you remain cautious. Seven more stones. Six more stones. The end is in sight. “COME ON _____! YOU CAN DO IT!!!” Papyrus yells gleefully. “YOU’RE DOING MUCH BETTER THAN SANS!”

Better than Sans? Well, it didn’t feel like ten minutes yet, so possibly. Five stones to go. Four stones. Three. Two. One… “Done!” you cry triumphantly, dropping all the stones.

“FINISHED!” Papyrus cries, dashing over excitedly. “NOW WE NEED TO DOUBLE CHECK YOU HAVE ALL THE STONES!”

You nod and quickly count them, kneeling down in the dirt and shifting them from one pile to the other. “18, 19, 20…” You look over. There’s one more stone that you picked up. “21?” you say hesitantly.

Papyrus kneels down next to you. “LET ME SEE!” He uses the same method of counting, only a lot slower. “ONE… TWO…”

Sans strolls over casually, hands in his pockets, but you can see he still isn’t happy with Undyne for how much she hurt you. “How’d ya do?” he asks, ignoring Undyne as she jumps down from her tree.

You shrug, getting up from the ground. “I dunno, I think I might have one too many stones.”

“SIX… SEVEN…”

Undyne runs over and slaps a cookie into your hand. “Eat up, punk!” she says firmly. “I’d rather not have Sans hating me my whole life.”

You blink in shock as you look down at the broken cookie she’s given you. “Th-thanks…?” you say nervously.

Sans chuckles slightly. “Don’t worry, it’s one of yours. It’ll heal the damage Undyne did to you.” Sans gives Undyne a sideways glare. “5hp. Really??” he asks. “How much did you want to hurt her?!”

“TEN… ELEVEN…”

Undyne scoffs. “I wasn’t trying to hurt her at all. Besides, how do you know her hp??”

Sans glares at her. “Did you not see it when you threw the spear??” he asks exasperatedly.

“G-guys, I’m fine, it’s ok…” you murmur, having finished the cookie.

Sans sighs. “That’s not the crux of the matter. See, when monsters fight, the stronger the intention to hurt, the more damage it does. If you don’t want to fight, then it’s only gonna do one or two damage. If a monster wants to hurt someone, then it’ll do a lot more damage.”

“Ok, so five isn’t that much, right?” you say nervously, already knowing that Sans definitely thought it was too much.

“FOURTEEN… FIFTEEN…”

“It bloody well is, considering you have 20hp, Undyne isn’t in danger and four wrong steps would have killed you!” Sans exclaims.

Undyne tuts. “Look, I would’ve lessened it if she’d stepped on a thing again!” she protests. “Besides, maybe she wasn’t expecting it?”

Sans rolls his eyes. “Yeah, it’s not like you weren’t eager to spear her or anything from the very beginning.”

Undyne laughs. “I’m always eager to spear something.”

“That’s my point! You can’t do that with her! Same with Frisk, only Frisk knows what’s going on and how everything works! _____ doesn’t!”

Undyne raises her eyebrows. “That was your first hit?”

You bite your lip. “In what context do you mean?” you ask quietly.

Sans is suddenly on high alert, watching you very closely. “She’s never been in battle before, no,” Sans says, covering for you.

“NINETEEN… TWENTY… T-TWENTY-ONE??” Papyrus finally finishes counting and reaches the same conclusion you did. “BROTHER, THEY ALL LOOK LIKE STONES I PLACED, CAN YOU MAKE SURE IT’S ACTUALLY TWENTY-ONE?”

Sans eyes you carefully before he erases all concern from his face. “Yeah, sure bro.” You turn to look at him, not particularly wanting to have a conversation about being hit with Undyne. That couldn’t end well. Ever. Sans’ eye lights up and the stones fly up, one by one, in rapid succession. “Yup, 21.”

“Let me!” Undyne yells, staring at the stones and mumbling numbers under her breath, pointing at each stone. “Yeah, it’s 21.”

“I… did say that in the first place,” you mumble.

“WELL! IT SEEMS THAT _____ HAS BEATEN BOTH OF YOU! IN MANY COUNTS! LEAST TIME, WITH 9:53 SECONDS, LEAST MIS-STEPS, TYING WITH SANS ON ONE, AND MOST STONES WITH TWENTY-ONE!”

“Hey, I won something too, right?!” Undyne asks.

Papyrus sighs. “YOU WON THE MOST WRONG TURNS AND THE PERSON TO GET HIT THE MOST AWARDS UNDYNE.”

“Oh yeah! I won too!” Undyne cries, fist-pumping.

“Uhhh…” You’re about to tell her that Papyrus basically told her she won at losing, but Sans shakes his head, grinning and trying not to laugh. You change your topic of conversation. “Papyrus, what time it is?” you ask. Papyrus takes a deep breath, ready to declare something. Probably the time.

Sans whips out his phone. “1:40, why?” he asks.

Papyrus huffs. “I WAS GOING TO SAY THAT SANS. DO YOU NOT HAVE A PHONE?” he asks curiously.

You shrug. “I used to, but it… broke,” you say, not looking Papyrus in the eye. Technically, you weren’t wrong. It did break. It just hadn’t been an accident. Very early on when you had moved in with Todd, probably 5 years ago. He’d smashed it in the first week. You shudder. You’d rather not think about that here and now.

Sans picks up on the change of your mood immediately. You can tell by the way he’s looking at you. “Why did you wanna know, _____?” Sans asks gently.

“Huh? Oh, cuz Papyrus said we were going to pick up MK and Frisk.”

Undyne comes back, the large picnic basket under her arm. “If you two are gonna be as slow as you were last time, then we need to get going. Come on!” she says, sprinting off in the wrong direction.

“UNDYNE! COME BACK! YOU’RE GOING THE WRONG WAY!” Papyrus cries, running after her.

Sans looks at you, concerned. “You just had two near-miss conversations, didn’t you?”

“Huh?” You look at him. “Oh, you mean, like, triggering things?” you mumble. “Yeah, I suppose so.”

Sans nods. “Are you ok?”

You take a deep breath. “I will be. Always am, aren’t I?” you say with a light smile.

“_____, come on. You know we don’t lie to each other.”

You sigh. “I know. And you know I’m not perfectly ok. I’m fighting myself, of course I’m not ok. But I didn’t lie. I will be alright in a moment. I’m not lost in it this time.”

Sans nods. “Ok. You need a hug?” he asks, holding out his arms.

“But Undyne-”

“Undyne can shove it, you and I know that we’re friends. R-right?” Sans asks, looking over at you.

Friends. Friends? You’re definitely at least friends. Probably best friends at least, honestly. But if that was the least you could call it… then that’s not all it is. It’s confusing. But the best you can do right now is agree with him and talk about it later. You nod. “Yeah, of course.” You move in to hug him.

He wraps his arms around you, holding you close. “It’ll be ok. We’ll be here for you. I’m here for you.”

“I know,” you murmur, your heart and head more confused than ever. “I know.”


	38. Chapter 38

“HEY MK, FRISK, YOU’RE COMING WITH US!!” Undyne hollers at the school gates. You ended up getting to the school five minutes early and Undyne is getting impatient. Frisk and Monster Kid come running down the hill when they see all four of you waiting for them.

“Hey, the pretty one’s here again, I don’t think I caught your name last time, gorgeous?” Frisk says, sweeping their hair to one side. Undyne and MK snicker. Sans rolls his eyes and sighs.

You blush slightly, still not quite sure what to make of this child flirting with you. “_____, but enough people have said it when I’m around, I’m sure you knew already,” you mumble.

“Speak up, sweetheart, I love hearing yo-”

Sans lifts Frisk into the air with his magic. “That’s enough of that kiddo,” he grumbles, dropping Frisk when Undyne starts nudging Papyrus. Frisk laughs on the way down, landing with a soft thump on their butt.

MK runs over to them, laughing. “Duuude, you were so right! He totally over-reacted!”

“I did not-!” Sans starts to protest, but realises it won’t help his case. Undyne starts cackling.

Papyrus clears his throat. “WELL. WHEN YOU ARE ALL FINISHED WITH YOUR JOKES, WE SHALL HEAD ON HOME FOR A PICNIC! ON THE ROOF!”

“Come on! Lets go! We’re running, right?” MK asks excitedly.

You sigh, feeling your feet ache in sympathy at the thought of more walking. “Screw that, Sans and I are teleporting,” you say, glancing at Sans for confirmation. He nods and holds out his hand.

“Whoa whoa whoa, you’ve walked so much today, why stop now?!” Undyne demands.

Sans huffs. “Because we’ve walked so much today. Anyone else coming?” Sans asks, ignoring Frisk’s hand until the last minute. “Alright kid, but you watch yourself.” Frisk moves to take your hand, but Sans grabs their hand instead. “See ya soon,” he says with a wink to Undyne. You feel the black wind engulf you again. You make it in one jump this time, landing on a slope and blinking in the afternoon sunlight.

Frisk stumbles forward slightly, expecting to land on flat ground. You’re feeling a little queasy, but not too bad. “I think that’s the biggest jump we’ve done,” you murmur, breathing deeply, trying not to sway.

Sans peers at you, letting go of Frisk. “You alright? You need to sit down?”

You swallow and shake your head. “No, I- I’ll be fine.”

Sans rolls his eyes slightly and you feel yourself suddenly rooted to the spot, surrounded by a blue haze. “I told you to stop lying.”

“Wah!” Frisk cries out as they slide off the edge of the roof, trying to see how far they could lean without falling. Sans sighs and pulls Frisk back up with his magic.

“Kid. Don’t go near the edge.” Sans plops Frisk down next to him on a flatter part of the roof. They sit down and pout. Sans turns to you. “You ok now?”

You nod; only your legs seem to have frozen to the ground. “Yeah, I’m alright now.”

“Can’t afford to have you tumbling off the roof,” he says with a smile. “That would be earth-shattering.”

“SANS!! CAN YOU HELP US GET UP THERE?!” Papyrus calls down.

Sans side-eyes Frisk, who grins back with pure child-like innocence. “Don’t do it,” he says flatly before going over to the front of the roof. “Sure, who’s up first?”

Frisk laughs quietly to themself, clearly amused by Sans telling them off. “Was he telling you not to flirt, or not to tumble over the edge?” you ask, joking. Frisk grins and shrugs. “You really don’t talk much unless you flirt, do you?” Frisk shakes their head. You nod quietly to yourself.

Monster Kid comes trotting over, not running for a change. “Yoooo! Frisk, you were like, so right! _____, when did he ask you out?!”

“H-huh?!” you stutter. You know exactly what MK is asking, but you don’t really know how to answer. “H-he didn’t??” you say.

Frisk huffs and pouts, resting their chin on their hand. MK’s face falls slightly. “Oh, bummer! He totally should though!” he says before sitting down next to Frisk.

You flush slightly, not quite certain on your feelings in that area. Undyne, Alphys, Toriel, Papyrus, Frisk, and now MK as well all think the two of you should get together. Why? Is there something that they see that you don’t?? Oh, and Mettaton, but he’s not forcing it down your throat like the others. Well, Papyrus isn’t either, but he certainly isn’t helping matters. “FOOD’S HERE!” Undyne yells, vaulting up with little to no help from Sans’ magic. He comes wandering back behind her. Papyrus comes casually strolling in the air towards you all.

“Uhhhhh…??” You point to Papyrus and look questioningly at Sans. “Magic??”

Sans nods. “Yeah. Unexplainable magic. Like my shortcuts.”

You nod. “Right.” Undyne throws open the basket and a chorus of happy gasps meets your ears. Well, only two, but it’s a nice feeling.

“Can we eat it, can we eat it, can we, can we, can we?!?!?” MK yells, making up for Frisk’s lack of words.

You chuckle. “Sans and I made them, it’s safe.”

“SAFE?! What do you mean, ‘SAFE’?!” Undyne snorts. “She had to yell at him so he wouldn’t put ketchup in!!”

Frisk laughs, grabbing a cupcake and stuffing it in their mouth. Frisk picks one up for MK, tossing it into the air and MK catches it in his mouth. “HOA! Geazz ah weally goog!” Monster Kid calls out with food in his mouth.

Papyrus steps onto the roof. “MK! DON’T TALK WITH FOOD IN YOUR MOUTH!!” he chides.

MK rolls his eyes, swallowing. “Ugh, you sound just like Miss Toriel.”

“So… Are you guys staying for dinner?” you ask, trying to work out when to make things happen.

MK, Undyne and Frisk look over to Sans expectantly. He points them to Papyrus who clears his throat importantly. “AHEM! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WOULD LOVE FOR YOU TO ALL STAY OVER! UNFORTUNATELY, AS IT IS A SCHOOL NIGHT, YOU TWO MUST GO HOME BEFORE IT GETS TOO LATE! SCHOOL IS VERY IMPORTANT FOR YOUNG, GROWING MINDS SUCH AS YOURS! NYEH HEH HEH!”

“Yes!” MK cheers, giving Frisk a high five with his foot.

“Ok, so. What do you want ton-”

“SPAGHETTI!!” Undyne, MK and Papyrus all cry out.

You look warily at Sans. “Do you always have spaghetti?”

“Yep.”

“Every night?” you ask, wincing slightly.

“Almost.”

“O-ok I guess, but aren’t we gonna finish these cookies first?” you ask, trying to turn everyone’s attention off you again.

“Yeah, but don’t expect us to go easy on you tonight with the cooking!” Undyne says with a large grin.

“Oh god,” you mutter.

“You want me to help this time?” Sans teases, knowing that he was absolutely the worst when it came to the battle of the kitchen the first time.

“If she’s gonna make it harder, then yeah, I’ll take the help I can get.”

“HA! That means you’ll have to do push-ups too, Sans!! Otherwise, you better be fighting against her!!” Monster Kid pipes up.

“Ooooh, will Sans do exercise for looooooooove?” Undyne taunts.

Sans glares at her flatly while Frisk cackles so hard they start to roll off the roof again. “Undyne, quit it.” He waves a hand at Frisk, stopping them in their tracks.

“OH MY GOD, FRISK WAS FALLING!!! YOU COULD HAVE DIED!!” Papyrus yells, picking Frisk up and shaking them to check if they’re ok. Frisk shakes their head to clear it from the tumble and gives a weak thumbs up.

“Yooo, Frisk, are you ok?!” MK asks anxiously. Frisk nods.

“Geez, we weren’t so worried when they went tumbling off the first time,” you mumble to Sans.

Sans shrugs. “That’s cuz I have magic and you didn’t realise until after they’d fallen.”

Undyne ignores the drama, knowing that Papyrus and MK will look after Frisk just fine. “So, you gonna join forces with _____, or are you gonna be with us??”

Sans rolls his eyes. “Like I’d join forces with your team again,” he teases. “I’ve beaten you in every competition in the last week with _____, I’m not gonna give that up.”

MK whips around. “AWESOME!! Prepare for the SECOND war of heroes verse ordinary!”

You look nervously at Sans. His eye ignites in a blue flame. “You’re. On.”


	39. Chapter 39

Earlier on in the day, you had very boldly proclaimed that you would not be tormented in your own goddamn kitchen. Well. As Undyne walks menacingly behind you and Sans with a smug grin on her face, you prepare to eat your words. Papyrus has hidden himself up in his room, remembering how awful he felt last time. Frisk and MK have come with Undyne, ready to fight. “Let’s see if we can have dinner at six, yeah?” Sans says with a light chuckle.

You look across at him, your eyes saying ‘I don’t know’. “Sure.”

“I’m about to start the timer!” Undyne cries, watching the clock. It ticks over to four. “GO!”

“Spaghetti again, yeah?” you ask, mapping out the kitchen in your head again.

“What do you need?” Sans asks.

“20 PUSH-UPS, THAT’S WHAT I NEED!!” Undyne screams. You look across at Sans dismally. This is not going to be fun. You get through 10 proper ones before your core is screaming at you. You do 10 more half ones and get back up.

Frisk is sitting on the counter, grinning. “If the bonehead over there is too busy not asking you out, mind if I do?” they ask. Sans lifts Frisk up into the air with blue magic.

You grab out saucepans and switch on the stovetop. “Sans, can you grab-”

“The vegetables are already there,” Sans says, putting up a wall of bones at the entrance to the kitchen. Frisk is still floating in the air, pouting with their arms crossed.

“Cool, thanks. Can you put water in the pot?”

“CAN YOU GIVE ME ANOTHER 20 PUSH UPS!! MAKE THEM PROPER ONES!!” Undyne yells, brushing away the bones on the door, taking the damage with a grin.

“I dunno how many of these I’ll be able to do,” you mumble quietly to Sans, your feet screaming from all the walking they’ve done today.

“Don’t… Worry about… That _____,” Sans huffs. “I’ll… put Frisk… d-down and…” You suddenly feel a lot lighter and you are hardly using your muscles at all. You look down. A faint blue glow is coming from your chest. Genius. He lowered the gravity on you. Somehow. Magic.

You get back up to find the vegetables are no longer on the bench. Frisk is throwing them up in the air, sitting on the stovetop that is no longer on. You can’t see MK. Sans throws up another bone wall and lifts Frisk up again. You run and grab the vegetables before they drop to the floor. “Why do we have to do it like this??” you cry, looking out at Undyne who grins evilly. If she’s talking, she might not give you push ups as you cut up vegetables.

“BECAUSE I NEED MY VENGEANCE!!!” she cries gleefully.

“If you say another word, _____, I think I might fall for you,” Frisk quips from the ceiling. Sans bonks their head with the ceiling lightly, grabbing the saucepan and filling it with from the extremely high sink.

“RAUGHRAHGSRHG!!!!!!!!” MK jumps out at Sans while he’s lowering the pot down from the sink.

“Gah!” Sans jumps and the water splooshes out of the full pot onto MK and the floor. Frisk starts to fall until Sans catches them at last minute. “Not cool, kid,” he says, glaring at MK. MK laughs, splashing about in the puddle.

“You alright?” you ask, looking over. The yell had made you jump a bit as well; you weren’t prepared for a jumpscare in the kitchen.

Sans sighs, filling up the pot. “Yeah, I’m fine.” He starts to lower the pot again.

“GIMME 20 PUSH-UPS NOW!!” Undyne screeches. “I MEAN NOW!!!!”

Sans flings the saucepan of water at her when he ‘drops’ it. He quickly puts Frisk in the sink instead. “I’m kinda regretting that I sided with you on this one,” he teases, using his magic on both of you to make it easier.

“I’m definitely not,” you say with a grin. “I can’t bear to think of doing this on my own WHILE you also screw with me.”

“SANS AND _____, SITTING IN A TRE-” MK’s song is cut off as Sans jumps up from his twenty ‘push ups’ and shoves him into the cupboard. “Kah I eth eth I eng ee!” The rest of it comes muffled through the thick door. Sans ignores him and tries to get on with what he was doing. He realises he threw the saucepan.

“Ah damn it, I have to get a new pot.”

“And it was sooooo funny when I was like, running around and then SLIPPED in the puddle of water! And Frisk was stuck in the sink for AGES, and then the water boiled over later, and then I tipped one of the bowls over and it broke, but Sans fixed it, and then HE slipped in the water and then _____ decided she should clean it and like, right in the middle of that, Undyne told them to do 40 push-ups! A whole 40!! And they did it!!”

Sans gives you a very tired wink across the table as Monster Kid relates every detail of what happened in the kitchen to Papyrus who is listening with rapt interest. “Well, we had to if we wanted to get dinner out by six,” you say, pretending you hadn’t breezed through the exercise because of magic.

“And you did it too,” Undyne grumbles. “Why do you have to beat me at my own games?! What do I have that you don’t?!?!” she cries.

“Magic,” you say. “And a bad temper.”

Undyne throws down her fork and glares at you. “WHAT DO YOU MEAN A BAD TEMPER?!” she yells.

Frisk giggles and Papyrus sighs. “THAT IS PRECISELY WHAT _____ IS TALKING ABOUT,” Papyrus points out matter-of-factly between mouthfuls of pasta.

You nod, leaning back from Undyne. “Y-yeah,” you chuckle nervously. “You’ve also got a relationship,” you say with a small smile. You don’t really want to talk about relationships, but it might calm her down.

Undyne grins. “I dunno, you could have one too if you wanted,” she teases, jerking her head towards Sans. You look over at him. He’s asleep at the table, leaning on his left hand with his right hand stretched across the table, like he was reaching for something. You smile slightly. The cooking, magic and exercise combined really took it out of him. Apart from when he falls asleep before you do at night, you don’t really see Sans sleeping; Papyrus wakes you up at the same time and you seem to always sleep through the night when you’re with Sans unless there’s a nightmare. It’s rather sweet.

“Told ya,” MK whispers loudly to Frisk.

You look over at MK with an eyebrow raised. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

MK looks nervously at Frisk. Frisk shakes their head. “Never mind!” he says with a grin.

“Michael…” you say in your best imitation of stern mum voice.

It clearly worked. Frisk looks over at MK with a look of ‘oh sh*t, she full-named you’. MK looks back at you nervously. “Y-yes, Miss _____?”

You can’t hold the stern face you pulled and start chuckling. “Miss _____?” you ask.

“W-well! You just seemed mad and you should always be really polite when people are mad!” MK says defensively.

You nod. “I suppose that’s a good idea.”

“Hey, so you guys need to be home in five minutes,” Sans says, suddenly awake. “MK, where are you going tonight?”

MK looks across at Frisk. “Can I stay with you guys tonight? My dad…” he trails off. “W-well, can I?”

You look over at Sans in concern. He nods slightly to acknowledge that he’s seen your concern and gives you the ‘talk about it later’ look. Frisk nods happily. Sans nods. “Alright, only one stop then. Shortcut?” he asks.

“HOW CAN YOU SHORTCUT WITH MK, HE HAS NO ARMS!” Papyrus asks suddenly.

“Oh, I don’t need arms! Frisk just gives me a big hug!” MK says with a grin. “I… I suppose we have to go now, don’t we?”

Sans chuckles. “Tori would stop letting you guys come with us if we took you home late, so yeah, we do.” He stands up. “Anyone wanna come with?”

Undyne shakes her head. “Alphy’s coming up tomorrow. I better text her to let her know we’ll all be here.”

You raise your eyebrows at Sans. He sighs. “Right, you’ve invited yourself over again, cool, cool.” He stands up. “Alright, Paps, _____?”

Papyrus looks down at his half-finished meal. “I- I WOULD LOVE TO, BUT…”

Sans smiles. “But the pasta calls, huh? _____?”

You shrug. “Sure, I’ll come. Haven’t seen Toriel and Asgore since… Monday?” you say, counting back the days. So much has happened in the past days, it’s hard to keep track of them.

“Alright then, let’s go guys.”


	40. Chapter 40

“Knock knock,” Sans calls.

“Who’s there?” Toriel’s voice calls back from behind the door.

“Boo.”

Frisk snickers, holding your hand in theirs. Clearly, they’ve heard this one before. “Boo who?” Toriel replies. She sounds as if she hasn’t.

“Don’t cry, it’s only us,” Sans says, grinning as he hears laughter and the door opens. “Hey Tori, we brought the kids back.”

“Oh! Wonderful. Michael, are you staying tonight too?” Toriel asks in a kind voice.

“If that’s alright, Miss Toriel?” he asks shyly.

She chuckles, stepping out of the doorway, letting them in. “Of course, dear. And simply Toriel will be fine. You aren’t in school now.”

MK nods. “Yes, Mi- Toriel.” He scoots past her, catching up with Frisk in the corridor.

She turns to you and Sans. “Are you two stopping in for a minute as well?” she asks kindly.

Sans looks at you. You shrug. “Eh, why not?” Sans asks. “If that’s alright with you. I’ll just let Papyrus know.”

Toriel smiles. “Of course it is ok. Come in, _____.” She ushers you inside, smiling at you. “Can I get you something to drink?”

You shake your head quickly. “No, no, don’t worry, we just ate.”

“I won't worry then.” She chuckles softly, hearing MK running around upstairs and the telltale scrape of furniture moving around. “You won’t be seeing any more of those two tonight. Whenever Michael comes over, they stick by each other constantly. It’s a little less at school, but not much.” She sits down in a large brown armchair with a doily hanging over the back of it. “Have a seat, the couch will be fine.” You timidly walk into the firelit loungeroom, sitting carefully on the edge of the couch. Toriel picks up her knitting. “So, how is everything going between you and Sans? And Papyrus, of course,” she adds smoothly.

You nod. “It’s going well. I’ve met a lot of different monsters, and well, it’s nice to be with people who want you.” The last part comes out as a mumble. You don’t particularly want to talk about it, but Toriel just radiates with an air of motherly confidence. It feels like you could tell her anything.

Toriel smiles. “Ah yes. Settling into your new room?” she asks. It seems like an innocent question, but you can tell she’s prying a bit.

“Uh, y-yeah, sure,” you say, thinking on the fact that you’ve only really spent two nights in it. “I don’t always sleep there though,” you say hastily. You vaguely remember that Papyrus called Toriel this morning.

Toriel gives a soft chuckle. “So I heard from Papyrus. Where did he find you this morning?” she asks, looking up at you.

“Uhhhh…”

“What are we talking about?” Sans asks, rounding the doorway. “Papyrus has put bedtime on hold until we get back, so we can’t stay too long.”

_Did he hear what she asked, or was that just incredibly well timed?_

Toriel nods. “Of course. You can sit over there, by _____.”

“Honey, what’s going on up there?” Asgore asks, appearing in the doorway to the lounge after Sans plops down next to you without complaint. He’s drying up a pie tray and his horns knock against the entrance.

Toriel puts down her knitting. “That’s just Michael and Frisk dear. Probably making a new world up there, being magical knights shutting off a fountain of darkness or something,” she says, smiling up at her husband. “That’s what it was last time.”

“Ah, I see.” Asgore comes into the lounge room, sitting in an adjacent chair to his wife. “Is everything ok with him and his family?” he asks, care and concern in his tone.

You listen closely; you’d been wondering the same thing. Toriel sighs. “I don’t know dear. He doesn’t like to talk about it and I’ve only ever met his mother once. She did seem awfully concerned about him.”

Asgore nods thoughtfully, putting the pie tray down on his lap. “So, _____, Sans, how is everything going between you two?”

Toriel gave Asgore a sideways glance. You look across at Sans awkwardly. “How do you mean?” he asks.

Asgore looks to Toriel for help. She sighs. “He just means to ask how you two are going, living in the same house on such short acquaintance.” She gives him a pointed look. You glance uneasily at Sans. You wonder just how much Alphys’ words impacted the two of them.

Sans shrugged, leaning on his arm towards you, his other hand in his pocket. “We’re doing alright. No arguments or anything if that’s what you mean?”

You know Sans knows what he means. You know what Asgore means. Toriel clearly knows. It’s the unspoken words in the room that you honestly aren’t sure if you want to hear them or not. Are you and Sans together yet. Of course, the answer is no. But the question has been asked so often it’s second nature to answer, even after the short amount of time you’ve spent together. “Er, yes, that is what I meant,” Asgore says with a large grin. “I should get back to the dishes,” he mumbles, getting up without picking up the pie tray. It clatters to the floor. He quickly picks it up, apologising. He walks back out quickly, giving Toriel a nuzzle on the way past.

She sighs with a small smile, shaking her head. “He’s a sweetheart, but he’s just been a little bit nervous recently. He’s still trying to set up the city to proper working order.”

Sans chuckled. “Ha, yeah, us ‘country folk’ are taking it easy. Are you guys planning on staying out here for much longer, or is the castle being rebuilt?”

_Castle??_

Toriel chuckles. “Well, I think we’ll stay here. We don’t have enough resources for that, and I rather like it here. I can stay close by to the school I run.”

Sans’ phone suddenly starts pinging at an alarming rate, the text tones overlapping each other. He sighs. “Gimme a sec.” He flips open his phone and looks at the screen. “Damn it Undyne…” he grumbles, getting up and ignoring the slightly pointed look Toriel gives him. “We need to head back, _____. Right now.”

“What happened? Is there anything we can help with?” Toriel asks, standing up and looking at the two of you anxiously. You glance over at the phone screen. The messages are scrolling so fast that you can only just read the name of who sent them.

Sans flips his phone shut. “Nah, not that I can think of. I’ll handle her. Come on, _____. We better go fast if we’re walking.”

You’re about to ask why you guys aren’t teleporting, especially if something happened back at the house with Undyne and Papyrus. But you think better of it, considering Sans explicitly said you’re walking home. “If you’re sure, Sans,” Toriel murmurs, sitting back down again. “Well, it was good to see you both again, even if only for a short time. Goodbye dear!” she says, waving to the both of you as you walk out of the house quickly.

As soon as the door shuts behind you, you turn to Sans. “Ok, what’s going on? That wasn’t Undyne messaging you, it was Papyrus. And why aren’t we teleporting if something is really wrong?”

Sans sighs and starts walking in the opposite direction of his house. “Well, I figured that the conversation might turn awkward at some point, so when I was talking to Paps, I told him that if I messaged him anything then he should spam text me so we had an excuse to leave… And besides, Tori doesn’t know that you can teleport yet.”

You frown slightly. “Was it that awkward?”

Sans sighs again, putting his hands in his pockets. “I panicked and just texted him from my pocket, I don’t want to lie or talk about that sort of thing with Asgore. He’s the king, that’s just... wrong.”

You frown slightly. “What do you mean ‘lie’?”

Sans shrugs. “I dunno, just… I dunno, I felt like I might have to lie about our sleeping together, lie about our mental state…”

You pause, stopping your meandering walk with Sans. “Don’t you lie though?” you ask.

Sans stops a little further ahead and hangs his head. “Honesty, remember?” he says with a chuckle. “Besides, I don’t lie, I just hide the truth.”

You catch up to him quickly, walking alongside him again. “That isn’t much better though…” you mumble.

Sans chuckles. “I know. But with a bro like Papyrus and friends like Frisk and MK… Well, some things are better left unsaid.”

You nod slightly, biting your lip. “That’s fair enough I suppose. I wouldn’t really know. I kept a few things from younger siblings but nothing major.”

Sans looks at you sideways. “Like a relationship…?” he asks gently. He sits down where he is and pats the ground beside him.

You sigh and sit down. You don’t recognise where you are. It doesn’t really matter though. “Yeah. I kept that from them. From most of my family. I…” You hang your head, folding your arms around your legs. “I was too young. I didn’t think. I could have avoided everything if… if…” You tremble, trying not to cry.

Sans wraps his arms around you. “Hey, hey, it doesn’t matter, it’s in the past now.” You keep your head down, tears leaking out of your stinging eyes. You feel Sans take his arms away and you flinch slightly, wanting him to put them back. You hear a soft humming sound from beside you and feel slightly calmer. You blink away tears and look up to see Sans holding out his soul. He’s looking at you, concerned and slightly anxious. “Are you ok?”

You sniff and wipe your eyes on your sleeve. “Not really,” you murmur, smiling slightly. “Why did you get your soul out?” you ask softly.

Sans shrugs, still looking concerned but less anxious. “Well… last time I did that, you were really calm and relaxed and you calmed me down with your soul, so… I thought I could try it.”

You breathe deeply, shutting your eyes and letting the low hum engulf you, forgetting the troubles of the past. It soothes you right to your core. You open your eyes and smile slightly. “Thanks, Sans. It… it does help.”

He smiles slightly. “Good. I found something that can help.”

You chuckle slightly. “There wasn’t really much need, you always help anyway.”

Sans leans over and rests his shoulder against yours. “Glad I can. It sucks to be dealing with crap like that alone. You alright if I put it away though? It’s… kinda fragile.”

You chuckle. “Of course, don’t need you dying on me.” You pause, biting your lip. “Sans…?”

He turns to look at you. “Yeah?”

You look at the ground, not quite sure how to phrase this question without betraying anything. “Because of, well… my past… I, I need to ask something a bit weird.”

Sans leans back slightly and sits to face you. “Ask away.”

You take a deep breath. “How… how do you know if you love someone?” you ask quickly, trying not to blush and trying to stay calm. Your heartbeat has started to race a million miles an hour. Will he know that you’re asking because you might like him but you aren’t sure? God, you hope not.

Sans looks down at his hands in thought. “Well… love is tricky. I dunno if I’m the best person to try explain it actually,” he says with a chuckle. “Don’t think I’ve ever been in love before. Would you like my thoughts on it, or an actual qualified opinion?”

You think on it for a moment. “I’d rather hear it from you. I trust you. I dunno if I want to ask anyone else.”

Sans nods. “I dunno if I’d want to talk about it with anyone else either.” He chuckles lightly. “Besides the fact that everyone would immediately think that I was talking about you.” He looks back down at his hands. “But, if I had to guess, I reckon if you loved someone, they’d make you feel happy. Maybe even giddy. They’d make you laugh, they’d be with you when you’re upset, they comfort you and help you when times get tough. They wouldn’t judge you on serious matters. They’d try to understand your interests and hobbies, maybe even enjoy them with you. But… I think most of all,” he says slowly, looking up at you. “They’d make you feel safe.” He grins. “That’s just my opinion anyway. You wanna look at the stars?”

You nod and he starts to rattle off constellations again, pointing out obscure ones that you aren’t sure you can actually pinpoint. _“They’d make you feel safe…”_ The words rattle around in your head. _“They’d make you feel safe…”_

_Face it, _____. By every definition he gave you… You love him._


	41. Chapter 41

You wake up feeling sore. You blearily open your eyes. “Argh, bright!” you yelp, squeezing your eyes shut again. You can feel Sans shifting next to you, his arm around your waist. Lying there, with something rough and hard at your back, you wonder why you’re awake. Papyrus clearly didn’t wake you, and you didn’t know it was bright until you opened your eyes. You can hear a muffled song coming from beside you along with some buzzing though. Maybe that’s what woke you up. You feel kind of cold and there seems to be a draught. You cautiously open your eyes to avoid being blinded again. What you see surprises you. “Uhhh….” You find yourself staring up at the blue sky. You remember talking for a while last night, though you don’t remember falling asleep out here. You do remember talking about what love is, favourite past times, joking about the cooking experiences, chatting about the rumours and why it isn’t really a major problem… Well, Sans was the one who talked most about that. You were too afraid to say anything in case it gave your revelation away. You look over to Sans. He’s sleeping quite peacefully. “Sans!” you hiss.

“Mm?” he murmurs, still asleep.

You sigh and lift his arm off you, sitting up slowly. You’re about to call his name a bit louder when he scrambles to sit up, looking around. He catches sight of you and stops scrambling. You raise an eyebrow at him. “You alright?” you ask.

Sans nods and stretches sleepily. “Yeah, I’m fine. Just didn’t know where ya were,” he mumbles, not looking you in the eye.

You stretch your neck. “Your phone woke me, where are we and what time is it?”

Sans pulls his phone out of his pocket. “Ah crap,” he chuckles. He shows you the screen. 1226 missed phone calls. The phone starts to ring in his hand again. “Hezzo?” he asks sleepily.

You don’t even need to have the phone to your ear to hear every word as clear as day. “SANS!!!!!! OH MY GOD!!!! WHERE ARE YOU WHY DIDN’T YOU COME HOME WHERE IS _____ WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU BOTH WHAT ARE YOU DOING YOU NEED TO COME HOME RIGHT NOW SO I CAN SHOUT AT YOU CLOSER!!!!!” Sans holds the phone away from his head, wincing at how loud it is. “SANS?!! ARE YOU THERE?!!” Papyrus yells frantically.

“Yeah, we’re both here, sorry, I fell asleep while coming back home from Tori’s,” Sans says. You raise your eyebrows sarcastically and Sans puts a finger to his teeth.

“You guys need to get your punk asses back here, Alphy’s coming in ten minutes!!!” You can hear Undyne yelling in the background.

“Alright! Alright, we’re coming!” Sans calls out, flipping the phone shut. “Geez, she’s demanding.”

You chuckle. “I heard the whole thing. Damn, my clothes are a mess!” you mumble, brushing grass and dirt off your back.

Sans grins. “Don’t worry, I’ll fix that when we get home. Though, you probably want to get dressed by yourself,” he teases.

You roll your eyes. “And you better respect that, mister,” you chide, grabbing his hand. Your heart flutters slightly before you squash it down, reminding yourself that you’ve done this many times before and it never bothered you.

“Ready?”

“Of course.” The black wooshing engulfs you and the next moment, your standing in the lounge room with a very cross-looking Papyrus and a smirking Undyne.

“WHERE. WERE. YOU,” Papyrus demands. “I BARELY SLEPT BECAUSE OF YOU TWO!! AND I’M LATE FOR WORK! NYEH!!”

Sans sighs. “Look, we were fine, we stayed out late, I fell asleep and _____ couldn’t wake me up so she stayed with me cuz she didn’t know her way back. I’m sorry. I’ll read you your favourite story tonight?” Sans bargains, grinning sheepishly up at his brother.

Papyrus huffs. “WELL. YOU’RE SAFE NOW, I SUPPOSE. BUT YOU TOLD ME YOU WOULDN’T DO IT AGAIN!”

“Yeah, I know, and I really mean it this time, I won’t. That was an accident. Besides, I wanted to calm down and you know what happens when I pass out.”

Papyrus frowns and ponders this for a moment. “YES, WELL, I SUPPOSE THERE AREN’T OTHERS BESIDES ME WHO CAN WAKE YOU WHEN YOU’RE DETERMINED TO SLEEP.” You decide not to correct him. That would not help your case. “VERY WELL. I SHALL SEE YOU TONIGHT WHEN I GET HOME.” Papyrus strolls out the door and doesn’t even give his signature Nyeh heh heh. He must be very upset.

“Sooooo lovebirds, what kept ya so long? Papyrus said that you needed an out from Tori’s place so he blew up your phone with texts. We expected you back a little earlier than…” Undyne pauses to look at the clock. “9:25.”

Sans glares flatly at her. “Ha. Ha. I wanted to leave cuz Asgore was being nosy and then I needed to chill so I slept. _____ couldn’t wake me, so she went to sleep too. Happy?”

_What was that about not lying, Sans?_

Undyne rolls her eyes. “Whatever, but you better believe I’m telling Alphy about this!”

“Uh, correct me if I’m wrong,” you say.

“Will do,” Sans responds playfully.

You roll your eyes and continue on. “She’s the person I talk to about all the super science-y stuff to, right?” you say, looking pointedly at Sans.

Undyne grins. “Oh yeah, Alphys has been the royal scientist for so long now, she knows so much about all that science-y stuff.”

Sans’ eyes seem dull. He knows what you mean, you know that much. But you aren’t sure why that should make him sad. “Yeah, she’s the one. We can have a good old chat with her if you like. Though…” He grins and his eyes light up again. “I think Undyne wants to keep her alone for a little while.”

“You got a problem with that?!” she barks. “Besides, while we go on our date, you two have the house _alllllllllllllllllll_ to yourselves. Bet you’re real happy about that.”

You roll your eyes, trying to quell the blush that threatens to show. _You sleep together for god’s sake! You shouldn’t be embarrassed by spending the day together, geez._

“Uh huh, where exactly are you two going?” Sans asks, peering at Undyne suspiciously, his hands in his pockets.

Undyne blushes slightly. “T-the garbage dump… where we first met…” she mumbles. Sans smirks slightly from beside you.

You smile at her. “Aw, that’s really sweet!”

Sans grins. “Sounds kinda trashy if you ask me.” You give him a sideways glare and Undyne cackles at how quickly Sans shuts up with a shrug.

“Are you going anywhere else?” you ask, ignoring Sans’ input.

Undyne nods. “Yeah, we’re going back to my place to watch anime, it’s totally the best!” She pauses slightly, ducking her head. “You know, I am glad that Frisk told me that anime wasn’t real.” She grins. “I was expecting a completely different world before then! Magical robot princesses who fight with swords ten times their size… But uhh, that didn’t happen.” She grins sheepishly.

You smile, finally having a conversation with Undyne that wasn’t angry or insinuating that you and Sans were a couple. “Well, I’m sure you guys will have a great time.”

There’s a knock at the door. Undyne rushes over to it, but Sans opens it with his magic. “OH COME ON!” Undyne shouts angrily.

Alphys stands in the doorway, wide-eyed and scared. “W-what did I d-do?” she asks nervously.

Undyne immediately stops yelling. “Aw, Alphy! Don’t worry, I was yelling at Sans. He was being a prick!” she says slightly louder over her shoulder. Sans grins at her.

“Undyne!” Alphys scolds gently. “What would T-toriel think i-if she heard you s-say that!”

Undyne shrugs with a grin. “Eh, she’s not around to hear us. Neither are Frisk, MK or Papyrus.”

Alphys glances nervously at you. “A-and you’re ok w-with that t-too?” she asks shyly.

You look at Sans, confused. Why is she asking? Sans chuckles. “She swears more than I do.”

You pout. “Hey, I restrain myself! Besides, I haven’t sworn in front of Toriel.”

“Good.” All three of them say it together, staring at you.

“Uhhh, ok, won’t ever do it, gotcha.”

Sans chuckles. “Well, the occasional goddamn, or-”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever, let’s go Alphy!” Undyne cries, running off, grabbing her girlfriend by the hand without even looking back at you.

Sans looks at you with a cheeky grin. “So... Whole day to ourselves. You wanna do your own thing, read a book, watch some tv…”

You get the feeling he’s about to suggest something different from the way he’s grinning. “Or…?”

Sans’ grin widens. “Or we could do some light stalking and listen to what Undyne and Alphys are talking about. I’d place a pretty big bet on the fact that it’ll be about us until they head back to Undyne’s.”

You cross your arms and smirk slightly, trying not to blush. “So you want to hear exactly how much they hype up our relationship and fangirl about us without them knowing we’re listening?”

Sans’ eyes brighten up. “And then nonchalantly drop a really obvious hint that we heard them by repeating something that they said while in the garbage dump?!”

You chuckle at his enthusiasm. “Hey, we can’t stalk them the whole day you know.”

Sans flaps a hand. “Nah, of course we won’t, we’ll duck off when they head to Undyne’s. Gotta give them a little time to ‘soul search’,” he snickers.

You look at him with your eyebrows raised. “Is that a monster sex joke?” you ask bluntly.

Sans scratches the back of his head, slightly embarrassed. “Yeah, first one I’ve made in a long time,” he chuckles awkwardly, staring at his feet. He looks up at you suddenly. “Anyway, are we stalking them or not?”

You think about it for a moment. Stalk your friends on their date? Or… what? Stay at home and do nothing but think? “Let’s go hear some rumours,” you decide, with a small smirk. “I’m sure there’ll be lots of them.”


	42. Chapter 42

Sans grabs your hand without waiting for more of an answer and you’re whisked away. You can hear the rushing of water before you can even see. You look around. Sans has you both hovering mid-air above a clear patch amidst the garbage lying all over the ground. Sans gently lowers the two of you down, not even making a sound. Alphys and Undyne are sitting on an old couch that has a spring popped out of it and a bunch of stuffing lying around it, just in front of you. Its back faces towards you. You’re close enough that even the rush of the water doesn’t drown out their talking. “I’m so glad we found this couch last time,” Undyne sighs, leaning back into it, her hair trailing down the back. “It makes it a nice spot to sit and chat.”

You can just see the top of Alphys’ head. “Y-yeah, s-s-so, what’s happened s-since I last s-saw you?”

Sans makes himself comfortable on the ground, sitting back and crossing his legs. You remain in a crouched squat for the time being, not sure how much you trust yourself to make no noise while getting comfortable. “Well, nothing too big. Sans and _____ are still beating me in every goddamn game we play!” she grumbles.

Alphys chuckles nervously. “W-well, Sans is a v-very strong m-magic user and _____ is v-very d-determined and clever s-so… if th-they work together, they b-become a p-power couple!” she spouts out, hoping to appease Undyne, but you can already hear the shipping in her tone. Sans smiles slightly. This was exactly what he had come to hear.

“I know!! And they don’t even see it!” Undyne cries. “I mean, at least I got the guts to ask you out!”

Alphys huffs slightly. “W-well, yes, b-but you made F-Frisk deliver it and I th-thought they wrote it!”

Undyne shrugs. “Eh, it’s history.” You can hear the grin in her voice. “But Sans… Hoo boy. Does he even look at what’s in front of him?? Like, she’s making him so bloody happy! And…” She huffs. “That does make him more involved and more annoying… But he’s actually happy!”

“Hey, I was happy before,” he whispers, so softly you barely hear him.

“I know! A-and th-they clearly h-have the same s-sense of humour, a-and! A-and they t-talk all the time!”

“Oh!! They spent the night out together last night,” Undyne says, lowering her tone slightly as if thinking someone might hear her. “They left Toriel’s house at like, 8 or earlier and didn’t get home until 9:25 this morning.”

Alphys gasps. “What?? W-what do you think h-h-happened?”

Undyne leans in secretively. “I don’t know. Sans said that he fell asleep and that _____ couldn’t wake him up, but Papyrus once told me that _____ had to wake Sans up one day when he couldn’t, he got really nervous after telling me too. I think Sans is lying. What do you think, Alphy?”

You can almost hear the cogs whirring in Alphys’ brain. “W-well, I think that they e-escaped T-Toriel t-to go on a d-date! A-and… if they s-stayed out as l-late as you s-said-”

“Papyrus rang them like, a thousand times through the night, yeah they stayed out.”

“Th-then, they must’ve s-slept somewhere, r-right? And _____ had grass s-stains on her pants, s-so, she s-slept outside. S-sans isn’t l-likely t-to leave her all b-by herself, s-so, he would have s-slept with her! THEY SLEPT TOGETHER UNDYNE!!! IT’S HAPPENING!!!”

You blush slightly and bite your lip. “Damn, she’s good at this…” Sans mumbles softly. You slowly shift to sitting down; your knees are starting to really hurt and you feel a little restless. Is it that obvious to everyone?

Undyne jumps up. “YES!! You’re never wrong Alphy! I knew it!”

_He holds out his hand. “Even through these trials before us,” he jokes, “friends?”_

_You take his hand rather tightly. “Friends,” you say, nodding._

_“Good, now the Alphys magic won’t work.”_

The memory leaves a slightly bitter taste in your mouth. From your conversation last night, you know almost for certain that you love Sans. You’re still trying to come to terms with it, but that’s almost a solid idea to work off now. Or… it was, until that memory reared its head. Sans only wanted a friend. Have you been that, or more? You think back on everything he’d said last night, what love was. Yes, Sans had ticked all those boxes. But… so had you. Was that bad? Maybe. He wasn’t interested in a relationship, he’d said that only, what, five days ago? And here you are, already falling for him though you’d promised only friendship. “I-is that the Alphys magic?” you ask softly.

Sans chuckles quietly. “I suppose so, _____.”

You aren’t sure how that makes you feel. What does he mean by that? Does he mean that her deducing is the magic, the fact that Undyne believes in it so implicitly, or… Is Sans inferring more? When he’d mentioned the Alphys magic the first time, he’d referred to the people always getting together. Is Sans saying that it’s a possibility? Or is he saying it ironically? Or nothing like that at all?! Crap. Why do feelings have to be so hard??

“He needs to have a talk with her about a lot of sh*t though…” Undyne mumbles thoughtfully. “I mean, he hasn’t even told her about the barrier, let alone what broke it. Doubt he’s told her much about souls in general actually, considering…”

“Oh!” Alphys lets out a startled noise. “G-goodness! D-do you th-think we sh-should maybe…? W-would that be too ah ha ha, um… awkward?”

Undyne chuckles. “Nah, let him do the soul talk, better him than Toriel.” You glance over at Sans. He’s got his hands over his face and his hoodie pulled up over his head and mouth. You can see the faint blue blush. “But I don’t know how he’s gonna go with the barrier stuff. I’ve mentioned the idea of killing a human before, and I think she knows about the war, but… I think we might need to be there for the conversation. It could go bad.” Sans seems very tense beside you, still burrowing into his hoodie.

_War? Killing? Barriers breaking? What are they talking about?_

“... W-well, we’re g-going back there th-this afternoon, r-right?” Alphys asks softly.

Undyne nods slowly. “Yeah, what are you suggesting, Alphy?”

Alphys pauses, and you find yourself holding your breath. “W-well, i-if we d-do the anime w-watching earlier, th-then… M-maybe, we c-can go over earlier a-and m-maybe help out…?”

Undyne scratches her head. “I dunno, depends how many episodes you were planning to watch.”

“O-OH! I didn’t tell you, d-did I??” Alphys gabs on excitedly. “There’s such thing a-as an anime m-movie!!!”

“NO WAY!! THAT’S SO COOL!!!” Undyne cries. “So, it’s a movie, but ANIME?!” Alphys nods enthusiastically, bouncing in her seat. “So, it’ll be like, what 2, 3 hours?” Alphys nods. “Sooo… If we start now, they won’t expect us when we go over there earlier, right?”

“R-right…?” Alphys asks.

“So! If we get anime watching and then go over once we’re finished and they don’t expect us… We might catch them!!” Undyne cries. Alphys gasps. “And besides, we’ll be there for a good reason,” Undyne adds on as an afterthought.

The top of Alphys’ head disappears. “W-well! Let’s go!”

Sans makes a desperate grab for your hand and clutches it. “We need to get out now,” he hisses as Undyne turns slightly towards your hiding spot. You nod quickly and grab onto his jacket. When you land, he stumbles backward into the couch and you catch yourself with your arms before you fall on top of him. He chuckles, his face flushing a little. “Well that was a close call,” he chuckles, grinning.

You look down at him, his face only an inch or two from your own. You hold back your own blush and stand up. “Y-yeah, you could say that,” you chuckle nervously.

Sans pulls himself up onto the couch, now that you aren’t blocking him from doing so. “Well, we know they think we’ve slept together once, so they’re probably gonna pressure Papyrus about it. We know that they think you don’t know anything about souls-”

“And they’d be wrong, what did they mean about ‘better him than Toriel’?”

Sans grimaces. “So, humans don’t have kids that way, right?” Sans says warily.

You blush. “N-no, it’s ummm. Different.”

“Right, right, not gonna push it,” he says softly. “But, like, who explains it to you?”

You shrug uncomfortably. “Well, usually it’s the parents.”

“Right, that’s the same here. Some folks don’t really have parents though, not all monsters are… well, like that. Some aren’t really… born as such? I don’t really get it either. But the point is, Toriel’s the one who talks to them. Paps and I… well, we don’t really have… parents. I don’t really remember anything from my childhood apart from showing up one day with Papyrus and no one else. When Tori and I got to know each other...” He trails off. You wince slightly. “Yeah. She was the one to give me ‘the talk’. I mean, it was through a locked door, so it’s not like it would’ve been easy, but all the same…” He shudders slightly. “Not fun. ‘Specially when I learnt that she was the queen of the Underground.”

You try to imagine the President of America giving you sex ed. Your teachers were bad enough. “Yeah, ok, I think I get it.”

Sans laughs. “Good, I try to repress that memory. But uhh, it does mean that Papyrus knows nothing about it, so… Maybe don’t mention it to him.”

“Noted.” You sit on the couch next to him. “So. What else do we know?”

Sans pauses. “Well, they definitely think we’re in a relationship or very close to it. I wouldn’t be surprised if Undyne embellishes the story of us sleeping outside to Toriel, so you can expect it to get b- worse from here on out.”

“Oh, and we also know they’re coming back in 2 or 3 hours,” you add.

Sans chuckles. “More like 3 or 4, they tend to talk out every single plot point in any anime they watch.”

“Ah. Right. So…” You lean back against the arm of the chair, twisting to face Sans. “What do you wanna do?”

Sans shrugs, mirroring your movements. “I dunno. It’s just us, a TV and impending doom from Undyne and Alphys. I think we should distract ourselves from the last one.”

You raise an eyebrow and smirk slightly. “By following their example and watching a movie together? Oh, that’s gonna go down _great_ if they get here before the movie ends,” you tease.

Sans shrugs. “Eh, it’s bad enough that they think we’re sleeping together, it won’t make any difference,” he grins, getting up off the chair. “Now, I know you’ve seen the Mettaton collection, but some movies get thrown out from the human world. I’ve kept a few of ‘em, but Paps doesn’t like ‘em.” He disappears and comes back down with a DVD in hand. You stare at it for a moment. It’s clearly recognisable to you. “I like this one. Paps hates it. Probably because it’s part of a series and even I can’t understand the plotline, but hey, it has humans with magic in it, so I’m down to watch.”

“That’s Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, right?” you ask. His fingers are obscuring the title.

Sans looks slightly surprised. “You know it? I thought that humans didn’t watch it and it was garbage. I found it in the trash zone, that’s where all the human garbage goes, so figured it had been thrown out. You like it?”

You nod. “Yeah, I used to read Harry Potter all the time, watched the movies too. It’s a good one, but I can imagine it being confusing if you’d never seen it before.” You frown slightly. “I thought Papyrus would like the puzzle-solving element in there.”

Sans shrugs, passing you the disc. “I don’t think he understood it at all. You want popcorn?”

You take the disc from him and scoff. “Is that even a question? Uh, yes. I do.”

“Get comfy, I’ll grab the blankets!” Sans calls out as he walks to the kitchen to start making popcorn. “We’re making a blanket nest and there are no two ways about it!”

You stick the disc into the player and follow him out. “What’s a blanket nest?” you ask, having a pretty good idea of what it is based on the name.

Sans looks at you, shaking his head. “You haven’t lived, _____. You grab as many blankets as you can and wrap you and the person you’re with up in one, then burrow down in all the rest like a nest. It is the only appropriate way to watch a movie. And I usually fall asleep,” he says, looking very seriously at you. “So. Blanket nest?”

“Of course,” you say with a grin, following him up to get the blankets. It sounds great. Being wrapped up in a blanket with Sans watching an old-time favourite of yours. Today is going to be a good day.


	43. Chapter 43

“So… How exactly do we do this?” you ask, staring at all the blankets in the house dumped on the couch. 25, including Sans’ favourite one he kept tucked away in his room - extra fluffy and light blue. The pile is bigger than the couch.

Sans steps forwards. “Well, I’ve put the rougher blankets to the left side of the couch and the soft ones on the right side. The rough blankets go around the outside of the nest, some of them on the bottom, then the fluffy ones go inside. We wrap ourselves in my blanket and then we snooze.”

“Or, you know, watch the movie.”

“Eh, same diff,” Sans grins, flapping his hand. “Anyway, pass me the blankets, and I’ll arrange them.”

You nod. “Ok, we’re doing it.”

“Not all at once!” Sans says suddenly as you walk forwards towards the masses. “We need to make the bare bones first. Then we make popcorn and hot chocolate, THEN we finish the interior.”

You stare at him for a moment. “How many times have you done this?” you ask, dumbfounded at how planned out his method is.

He stares back at you, deadpan. “How many days did I spend alone without Papyrus around because he was working himself to death and this was all I felt like doing because everything else felt numb and I never knew whether it was a reset or not and life felt meaningless and this was the only thing I had to occupy me apart from the trash tornado?”

“Uhhhhh…” You really don’t know how to answer that.

He grins widely. “Nah, I had hotdog stands to tend to as well. And it wasn’t that bad,” he adds quickly, seeing your concern. “But yeah, I’ve done this a lot. I know how it works best.”

You nod. “Ok then. So we use the rough blankets now and the soft ones when we get in?”

Sans nods. “Now you’re getting it!”

You spend the next few minutes grabbing blankets off the couch just so you can put them back on the couch in a different way. It takes a good ten minutes or so to position the blankets just right, Sans adjusting them every few seconds to make it “better for snuggling”. “Are we done yet?” you complain slightly, just wanting to sit down and watch the movie.

“Not even close,” Sans chuckles with a grin. “You can get the popcorn started though, if you like.”

You nod, not really doing much with the blanket nest at this point, and walk out into the kitchen. A packet of instant popcorn is sitting on the bench and you look across to the microwave. It… Does not look like a normal microwave. The numbers have been replaced with five different buttons. They have time options on them. Or, rather, you assume they’re time options. Option one is ‘Undyne spear’. Option two is ‘Papyrus run’. Option three is ‘Toriel time out’. Option four is ‘Alphys nerd-out’. Option five is ‘Sans’. From your basic understanding of your friends, you assume that they go from the shortest amount of time to the longest amount of time. “SANS??” you yell out.

“WHAT?” he yells back.

You poke your head around the corner. “What button do I press?”

“Press Papyrus run three times and then press Anime.”

 _Anime?? Press Anime?? There isn’t even a button labelled that!_ You duck back into the kitchen, open the microwave and put the bag in. You press the Papyrus button three times. A new set of five buttons light up below the last ones. ‘Endogeny’, ‘Hotland’, ‘Anime’, ‘Flaming house’, and ‘Mettaton’. You can only assume that these are heat settings.

“Whaaaaaat does this even mean??” you ask quietly to yourself, pressing the Anime button. Two more buttons appear, one saying in large letters ‘SHOWTIME’ and another saying ‘ohhhhh noooooooooo’. “WHICH ONE NOW??” you ask loudly.

“SHOWTIME!” Sans yells back.

You press it and the microwave says softly ‘ohhh yessssss’ in Mettaton’s voice. “What the fuuuuuu-”

“Pretty cool, isn’t it?” Sans asks from behind you, cutting you off.

“It’s confusing as hell! What does it even mean????” you wail.

Sans grins. “Maybe I should do the hot chocolates then.”

Five minutes later, popcorn and hot chocolates on the little table in front of the couch, Sans is structurally designing the inside of the nest while you both sit on the inside. “I’ve had to make some adjustments from the usual, cuz I’ve only ever done this alone.” He has his arm hovering over your chest, fixing up a blanket that’s just over your shoulder. It takes all of your determination to not blush at him being so close. “Nearly done though, then we can watch. Or, you know, sleep.”

You look at a fixed point on the wall. “Why do you even bother to watch movies if you just sleep through them?” you mumble, trying to keep your voice even. Sans starts to wrap another blanket around the two of you. This is going to be a very tight fit. He still has another five more to fit in and the fluffy one on top of that.

“Cuz I want to,” Sans says matter of factly, looking at you. He pauses, then quickly stuffs the rest of the blankets in, with no care for architectural structure anymore. He does take extra care in wrapping the blue blanket around the two of you though. He’s really close to you. You can feel his breath against your cheek. How is he even breathing? He gives you a small huff of a chuckle. “Actually, it’s cuz I felt lonely. Guess I don’t really need movies anymore huh,” he teased, looking over at you. His face is extremely close to yours at this point. You turn to look at the TV, blushing slightly, and see the remote sitting on the far side of the coffee table.

“Goddammit, the remote’s over theeerrrrreeeee…” you grumble, leaning out over the wall of blankets that trap you with Sans.

“I can get it,” Sans says with a chuckle.

“Nah, I’ll get it, you stay comfy,” you mumble, gripping the edge of the table, half out of the blankets. You inch your hands closer, avoiding the popcorn bowl and almost hitting your hot chocolate on the way. It’s _just_ out of reach. You’re stretching to your absolute maximum.

“_____.” The remote lights up blue in front of you and floats away.

“Huh?”

“I can get it,” Sans says, the grin audibly in his tone. If you had the ability to at this moment, you would’ve slapped yourself. How could you forget that Sans had magic?? “Come back here,” he chuckles, and you can feel yourself being lifted back into the blanket nest.

You pout and cross your arms. “Shut up.”

Sans grins. “Never. You gonna grab the popcorn or shall I?”

“Shut up!” you cry out, giving Sans a gentle shove. “Why didn’t you stop me?”

Sans shrugs, grabbing the popcorn out of the air as it hovered in front of him. “It was entertaining.”

You roll your eyes. “Turn the lights off then, the movie is more entertaining.”

Sans grins. “Sure, but if you’re gonna keep doing stuff like that, then I’d rather watch you.”

You side-eye him. “Shut. Up.” The familiar tune of Hedwig’s Theme plays out. You perk up and watch the screen, the nostalgia hitting hard.

“You alright?” Sans asks.

“Shh!” You shush him loudly, just listening to the music and watching the introduction.

Sans chuckles. “Alright, I’ll shut up.” And he does. For the whole movie, he doesn’t say another word. He does start leaning on you pretty heavily though. You lean your head against his, enjoying your movie watching experience. His arm rests loosely around your back. You feel relaxed. It’s one of the first times in a while you’ve felt this relaxed without anyone actively talking to you. When the credits roll, you shut your eyes, just listening to the music, Sans’ gentle and slow breathing soothing you a little. It also tips you off to the fact that he’s sleeping. Your face feels a little cool, a gentle breeze drifting across it. The door must’ve unlatched at some point during the movie, you can hear a gentle creaking of the hinges. There’s a bright flash and some excited gasps that are clearly trying to be kept quiet. You open your eye slightly. UNDYNE! Your eyes snap open. F*ck. The flash was a camera, you’re certain of it.

“Ohhhhhh! Hehe, heeeeyyyy _____ and Sans! Sorry, didn’t expect to see you there!” Undyne says in a really high squeaky voice.

“Undyne, th-this is th-their house!” Alphys whispers loudly.

“Sans!” you hiss out of the corner of your mouth. He sleepily opens an eye. The second one flies open and Undyne is lifted up into the air. She shrieks.

“WH- Oh. It’s you.” Sans drops her clumsily and slumps back into the blanket nest. “F*ck off.”

Undyne scowls. “Why? It’s not like anything is going on here.”

You blush. “I know you took a photo,” you say trying to sound stern.

Alphys steps out from behind her. “I know, b-but, you t-two just l-l-look so c-cute together!”

Undyne rolls her eyes. “Are you two dating yet or what?”

“N-no!” you stammer, wishing Sans would save you from this hell. He just burrows down further into the blankets.

“Alright, then how and why are you in a goddamn blanket lump?” Undyne asks.

“Not a lump!!” a muffled yell replies. “It’s a nest!”

“I- I…” You blush. You know this looks bad, you know they think you two are sleeping together and you know they aren’t believing you when you say no. You struggle to stand up properly.

“_____!! Don’t do that!!” Sans cries out, wriggling around helplessly, tossed in the sea of blankets that you’re already swimming in. You both tumble onto the floor, narrowly missing the coffee table. You can feel his hand clinging onto your shirt hem and see a faint blue glow from inside the rubble of the blanket nest. You grab onto it and the two of you struggle out, ending up on the floor in front of Undyne and Alphys.

“Umm…” You aren’t quite sure what to do or say right now. “Hi?”

Undyne kneels down in front of you, staring you down nose to nose. “Ok, last time, punk,” she says. “And you better answer truthfully.” She holds a spear in one hand. “Are you and Sans dating?”

“No!” you say loudly. “No, we aren’t.”

Undyne sighs and groans, getting up. “Ugh, come on!! I thought I’d finally catch you guys out!!!’ she yells. Sans is pretending to be asleep again, opting not to deal with this situation.

“U-undyne!” Alphys cries out. “Th-that i-isn’t a-all we c-came for! R-remember?”

Undyne immediately stops freaking out. “_____, Sans, can we have a bit of a chat?”

Sans stops pretending and looks up at Undyne with fear in his eyes. “Do you mean…?” he asks, his voice shaking a little.

Undyne nods. “Yep.” You don’t know what Sans is freaking out over. It seems dumb to be freaking out this much over a talk.

He sighs, sits up and looks at you steadily. “_____. We need to have a talk.”


	44. Chapter 44

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quick trigger warning, mentions of suicide and justification of murder. Make of that what you will. Have fun!

_Why would he be so nervous over a talk? Has something happened? Is something wrong?_

_… They don’t want you here and they want to tell you nicely, that’s what this is._

_No! Sans wouldn’t be sleeping with you for nightmares if he just wanted to kick you out!_

_Are you sure…? You know he’s hiding something… Does he hate you? Do they others hate you? Papyrus wouldn’t though… would he?_

“You mind if we sit at the table?” Sans asks, slowly getting up. You aren’t quite sure who he’s talking to, and if it isn’t something awful, then you wouldn’t want to be seen being nervous.

“No! N- not at all!” you say with a grin, hoping that it hides the nerves building up in your stomach. You’re starting to second guess every moment you’ve had with these people who you’ve grown to know over the past week or so.

Sans holds out his hand to you, grinning back. You can see the smile doesn’t reach his eyes. “Don’t worry, it’ll be ok.”

You nod, taking a deep breath. _You can do this, _____, it’s probably just something simple, they’re playing a prank on you, that’s all…_

You take a seat. Undyne sits next to you and Alphys and Sans sit across from you. “So… why are we having this talk?” you ask, trying not to let your voice quiver.

“W-well… ah ha ha, um… U-Undyne?” Alphys says nervously.

Undyne turns to you with a sigh. “Look, we know you have questions about monsters. We thought now would be a good time to lay it all out. So, what are your questions?”

 _Crap._ You know you had questions, you know there are secrets you don’t know. You know you’ve been curious about things before. But now… Nothing. Absolutely nothing comes to mind. “Uhhhh… Um, uh…” You frown at the table, trying to reach for something, anything, that you could possibly want to know. “Wha- How does magic work?” you ask, wanting to stop the awkward silence. It’s the one thing you know they can’t answer from what Sans has said.

Both Undyne and Alphys look to Sans helplessly. He chuckles. “_____, I’m one of the most knowledgeable about magic here. And I’ve told you pretty much all I know about it.”

“Pretty much?” you ask, watching him carefully now. You get the feeling he’s not going to hide much today.

Sans grins. “Well, I can’t be certain I’ve told you everything. Hell, a lot of it I don’t understand. You might find something else out about it if you talk to Tori or Asgore. Us three are kinda… how would you say… The ones who use magic the most.”

You nod, satisfied with that answer. Some of your questions are coming back to you now. “So… What exactly is a soul?” Sans looks sharply at you and you know you should tread carefully.

Undyne glances at Alphys uncomfortably. “Uhhh… how much do you know?”

You glance nervously at Sans. _WHAT DO I SAY??????_ He isn’t looking at you.

“Uhh, I know about traits, HP, Karma-” Sans bristles at that and Alphys looks at you very confused. “Uhh, I mean… what humans call karma,” you say quickly. “I like to think it’s related. It’s like saying when you do good things, it stays in your soul and means you should get good things in return,” you babble, even though you know for a fact that that’s not what karma is.

“Oh. R-right, I-I should l-look into th-that,” Alphys murmurs. Sans relaxes a bit. “S-so, i-i-if you know a-about traits and HP… Wh-what exactly d-do you want t-to know?”

“What is it made of?? What is it? Why didn’t I know about souls until now? Why isn’t it common knowledge with humans?” you ask rapid-fire. Your questions are _definitely_ coming back now.

Sans chuckles at Alphys’ stunned and confused face. “I’ll handle it, Alphy.”

“YOU DON’T GET TO CALL HER THAT,” Undyne yells, jumping up and slamming her hands down on the table. You jump, flinching away from Undyne’s sudden outburst. It makes your chest feel tight and your breathing goes funny.

Sans sees the slight panic in your eyes. “Woah, woah, it’s ok, I won’t call her that again, ok?” Undyne sank back down into her chair, glaring across at Sans. “Ok, so souls are made of your whole being. It’s literally every single thing you believe, trust, love, hope for, all of your past, every hurt, every truth, every lie. It’s literally the culmination of your being.”

You huff slightly. “Yes, but, like… they’re a physical thing, right?? You can see them, hear them, touch them, right? So what is it _made_ of?”

Sans shrugs helplessly. “Probably magic of some description, I honestly don’t know.”

“Then why do humans have them? Not all humans have magic. Maybe some do, but even then, I- I don’t think we do.”

Alphys glances sideways at Undyne. Undyne bites her lip. They look to Sans, who sighs, talking to you as if they aren’t there. “_____, all humans did have magic once. I wasn’t around for it, but humans did have magic. Tori’s told me plenty about it. Remember when I told you about sages and sorcerers?”

You nod. “Yeah, but that was, like, ages ago. Like, hundreds of years… ago…” You trail off. “That’s roughly how long you guys had been down there, wasn’t it?”

They all nod. Undyne starts to fidget in her seat. “Yeah. Yeah, it was. They were around back then. Maybe they aren’t now, who knows. Maybe they are. Either way. Humans used to have magic, then only some did and, from what you’ve said, none do now.”

“So… You once said humans trapped you down there. Why?” you ask.

Undyne puts her hand up. “Ooh! Ooh! I can explain this one!” she cries excitedly.

You look at her, slightly intimidated by her enthusiasm. “Ok…?”

“Well, when humans die, their souls stick around. When monsters die, our souls vanish. Poof. Gone. BUT, it is possible for a monster to absorb a human’s soul after they die and, according to legend and literal history, they become a f*cking abomination, but suuuuper powerful. Humans didn’t really like that idea and decided to try wipe us out before we could do anything like that.”

You frown slightly. That was literally the _exact_ opposite of what was in that book from Fran. “Huh. I mean, I had no idea. I once read a book that said that monsters hunted humans down _for_ their souls.”

Sans scoffs. “We wouldn’t do that. We’re not humans.”

You bristle slightly. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Sans takes a deep breath. “Sorry, that book just really pisses me off. We didn’t hunt humans. In fact, throughout the whole war, not a single human died and at least three-quarters of our race was destroyed. And then, when they decided to have the tiniest shred of mercy and spare the rest of us, even when monsters had surrendered, they trapped us in a place where no life should be able to survive.” He takes another deep breath. “So, to hear how the humans recorded it? It’s really not my thing.”

You bite your lip. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to offend you.”

Sans chuckles slightly. “None taken. I tend to overreact when things aren’t just and logical.”

You nod slowly. “Right. I… I do have another question though. How did you guys get out? I mean, I know Frisk is the one who… who brought you out, but… how?”

Sans takes a deep breath. Undyne and Alphys look at each other with concern. “Well, firstly, you need to know that the barrier was made by the seven most powerful magicians humans had. The power of seven human souls sealed us in, so the power of seven human souls was what would free us.”

You frown. “Well, how exactly do you get that power? Unless monster souls are more pow-” You trail off as Sans shakes his head.

“No, human souls are far more powerful than monster souls. It would take every single soul of every monster _combined_ to make enough power to even light a candle to one human soul.”

“That…” You bite your lip, confused. “Ok, so, how do you get human souls?”

Undyne puts her hand on your arm. “_____, you can’t just get… human souls.”

Sans sighs loudly. “F*ck it. I’ll say it.”

“Huh?” That was an unexpected reaction from Sans.

“The only way to get a human soul is for a human to die.”

You freeze. “What?” you ask softly.

“I said-”

“No, I heard what you said,” you say steadily, hoping to god that he can explain. “I want to know what you mean.”

“Seven human souls, _____. We had six stored away. What do you think happened?” Sans asks rhetorically.

You recoil back from the table in your seat. “But you said that monsters didn’t seek out humans to kill them.”

“We didn’t. They came to us.”

You sigh in relief. “Oh, so they came down to attack you guys again? Even after what they did to you the first time?” You honestly feel disgusted in your own race.

Undyne looks at Alphys in a pained way. She stares back in helpless panic. Sans shakes his head, staring at the table. “No,” he says finally. “They didn’t come down to attack us.”

You frown. “Then… why were they there? They didn’t want to make peace… did they?” you ask slowly, hoping that the answer was no.

Sans shrugs. “Who knows? I don’t think they knew. They were only children.”

You look at him in horror. “Only-? What do you mean ‘only children’?!”

Sans looks up at you. “They were kids. They fell down and got lost. Never made it back home.”

You stare at him. “How did they die?” you ask, wondering if maybe there was a case of freezing to death or starving because they didn’t eat, maybe they died from the fall… Anything but murder.

Sans shrugs again. “King’s orders. Any human that comes down to the underground should die so we could see the surface again.”

Asgore?! That… That kind-hearted, fluffy goat… Had ordered humans to be murdered? No matter what?? “A-Asgore?” you stutter.

Sans nods. “Yep.”

“Were… all of them children?”

“From what Tori says, yeah. She looked after every single one of them before they ended up dying. But hey, it happened and we’re free.”

You stare at Sans in horror. “How can you be ok with that?” you ask. “Killing children, just to, what, see a star in the sky??”

Sans stares back at you. “Do you think that’s all we wanted? To kill children so we could see the sun?”

You sit back from the table, narrowing your eyes. “It sure seems like it. Six children?? And you’ve sat here saying monsters never killed people.”

“We had to! We had no choice,” Sans says, leaning forward and leaning on the table.

“You had the choice to not kill! Toriel didn’t! You just said, she cared for them!” you exclaim. “Don’t sit there and say you had no choice! That’s six CHILDREN. They died because you couldn’t find another way to get out.”

Alphys starts sobbing and sniffling out words. You can barely make them out. All you can hear is “m s-s-s-o s-sorry… t-tried….. I-I... f-f-failure…”

Undyne shoots up out of her seat, her face pale and set in neutral. “We’ll be off now. Call me if you need me. I’ll be at home with Alphys.” She walks around and lifts Alphys out of her seat. “Come on Alphy, you’re staying with me tonight.” She pulls her up onto her back and takes off out the door.

“Wh-what?”

Sans glares at you. You wince slightly. “Do you think we didn’t _try_?? In three hundred years, you think that we didn’t try any other way??”

“Then why stop trying?” you demand.

“Maybe because the king’s son was killed by humans, how about that?” Sans asks dryly.

You sigh. “Look, I’m sure that’s awful, but that was one human in a war, why does that make it ok to kill children?”

Sans gives a sarcastic laugh. “One human in a war? No. No, it wasn’t. There was a human child here once. The king and queen took them in, made them their kid. Peaceful, happy family. One day, the kid got real sick. Didn’t wake up the next morning. The son took their soul, at their request, I might add, and took the kid’s body to the village.”

“What about the barrier?” you ask.

“A monster with a human soul can get through. Either way, the son took the kid to the village and all the people in the village beat him to death. Just made it back so he could die in front of his parents.” Sans glares at you bitterly. “Not just one human in a war. A whole, unprovoked village. And you wanna make out like we aren’t the victims? That we should’ve just bitten our tongues for who knows how long, just to hope maybe one day a new way out might be found?” Sans sits back, as though resting his defence.

“And that’s a reason to kill children who-” Sans tries to cut in, but you talk over him. “WHO DIDN’T KILL THE SON??”

“THEIR PARENTS DID,” Sans yells back, matching your pitch.

“Does that make them responsible??” you cry out, eyes wide. “How many of those children did you kill?” you ask angrily, glaring at him in hatred.

“None!” Sans spits back. “But if I hadn’t made a promise, Frisk would’ve been the seventh soul.”

“YOU WOULD HAVE MURDERED THEM?! HOW CAN YOU CALL THEM A FRIEND?!” you scream, standing up from your chair.

“YOU WOULD HAVE MURDERED YOURSELF IF IT WASN’T FOR MONSTERS!” Sans yells back, also standing up. “Would you rather we were still underground, meekly hoping that maybe another way could be made?? Would you rather have pitched yourself off a cliff? Those children’s deaths saved your f*cking life!”

You tremble, walking back from the table slowly, hands shaking. How dare he?? How dare he say something like that? “That’s not a f*cking excuse!” you retort. “You didn’t know that when you thought about killing Frisk. You didn’t know that when you said ‘this is the right choice’, and-” He tries to cut in again. You raise your voice. “AND YOU DIDN’T KNOW WHAT THOSE SIX CHILDREN COULD HAVE DONE WITH THEIR LIVES!”

“WELL MAYBE I THOUGHT MORE SERIOUSLY ABOUT KILLING THEM WHEN THEY ALMOST KILLED MY F*CKING BROTHER!!” Sans screeches, his eye flaming blue.

“BUT THEY DIDN’T!”

Sans scowls, nodding. “Yeah. Yeah, I guess you’re right. I should’ve just left it, hoped for the best. IGNORED it. Frisk had to get through Toriel to get to us. Why should I believe they didn’t heartlessly murder her too?”

“Frisk wouldn’t do that now! You yourself said they wouldn’t, they’re different!” you cry out.

Sans pauses, staring at you. “Science is based on history and experience. The most factual things you can get.” He stares hard at you. “Are you following?” You nod stiffly, pursing your lips together in anger. You _trusted_ him. “Do you know what history tells me, _____?” he asks coldly. “History tells me that humans are cruel, will never understand and will always hurt us. Humans didn’t hesitate to kill a child of ours. So why should we?” he hisses.

“Because you were better than them,” you spit back. “You told me monsters were nice. You told me they wouldn’t hurt anyone.”

“Not now, there’s no reason to,” Sans states plainly. “Do you think that we hurt others without reason?”

“I don’t see why not,” you scowl, crossing your arms across your chest. “If you can do it for any reason, I’m sure you’ll find something tiny to justify it. Just moments ago you were all for peace and justice. What changed?”

Sans glares back at you, his eye flaring up a bright blue. “Oh. It wasn’t justice. Justice would be killing three-quarters of the human race and trapping the rest in an inhabitable, f*cking volcano. Justice would be murdering their prince as he laid his brother down gently amidst the flowers. JUSTICE WOULD BE FAR MORE THAN KILLING SIX OF THEIR CHILDREN SO WE COULD ESCAPE!”

“I THOUGHT YOU WANTED MERCY!” you yell.

“WHY SHOULD MERCY BE GIVEN IF IT ISN’T GIFTED IN THE FIRST PLACE?!” he roars.

“I THOUGHT YOU CARED ABOUT LIFE!” you screech. “DOES LIFE MEAN NOTHING TO YOU?!!”

Sans stops short, he gasps slightly, then glares hard at you. “Are you saying I should’ve let you kill yourself, huh?” he asks, his voice low and dangerous.

“What does one more human matter to you? To you, we’re all just hateful pieces of sh*t. Why save me, huh?” you hiss.

Sans trembles. You aren’t quite sure if it’s rage or tears. Maybe both. “How can you not see how sh*tty humanity is??” he asks, his voice cracking. “The human you loved the most beat you and abused you and you still think humans should live?”

You tremble. “Keep Todd out of this,” you warn lowly, your voice shaking as tears spring into your eyes.

Sans sneers. “Or what? You’ll hurt me? Like he hurt you? Like all humans do?” It hits you like a slap in the face. Sans thinks you want to hurt him? “Fine. Go back to him, you belong together.” Sans walks right past you, not giving you time to respond, and out the door. It slams shut behind him.

You fall to your knees shaking and sweating: a sobbing, broken mess.


	45. Chapter 45

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ***WARNING*** BIG ALLUSIONS TO SELF HARM AND SUICIDE. IF THAT IS A TRIGGER, PLEASE DO NOT READ THIS CHAPTER. MESSAGE ME AND I WILL GIVE YOU THE SHORT VERSION OR A CENSORED VERSION OF IT. PLEASE DO NOT SELF-HARM OR ATTEMPT SUICIDE, TALK TO A FRIEND, FAMILY MEMBER OR PROFESSIONAL

_“Are you saying I should’ve let you kill yourself?”_

_  
“Are you saying I should’ve let you kill yours-”_

_  
“Are you saying I should’ve let you kill yourself, huh?”_

_“Saying I should’ve let you”_

_“Huh? ”  
s “Are you”_

_“I should’ve let you”_

_“Should’ve let you kill yourself”  
“you kill yourself”_

_“Go back to him, you belong together”_

_“Should’ve let you kill”_

_“Go back”_

_“You belong together”_

_“Kill yourself”  
“I should’ve let you kill yourself.”_

///

“Todd! I’m… I didn’t expect you to be home so soon,” you said, starting as the door slammed shut behind him.

“Whatever. Get out of here, read a book or some sh*t,” he huffed, throwing his coat on the floor and kicking his shoes off where he stood. You winced slightly. Ouch, that hurt a little. It must’ve been a rough day. You could give him a bit of slack. Besides, he’d helped you through much worse days. He flopped down on the couch. “Did Jackie call?”

You frowned. You kept hearing Jackie’s name, but Todd assured you she was just a receptionist. “N-no, the phone didn’t ring at all. B-besides, I’m not supposed to use the phone, remember?” you teased gently.

He looked at you over the back of the couch. “Heh, I’d forgotten about that,” he said with a weary grin. “Glad you remembered.”

You looked back at him, slightly confused. He’d smashed your phone the first week you were there and never replaced it, even though he said he ‘probably would’. It didn’t seem like something he’d forget, maybe he was just joking. “O-ok?” you said, slightly unsure.

Todd sighed. “Just, get out of here. If you come back in, you better bring beer!” he called back, sounding slightly happier as he said it. You smiled to yourself, walking up the stairs, heading to his well-stocked beer fridge. At least you could do something to make him happy. You grabbed a beer and a glass and headed back down. When you reach the entrance to the living room, you can hear him talking on the phone. You’re about to knock when he speaks. “Just a sec, baby,” Todd said. You paused, thinking he must’ve heard you. “It was nothing, carry on.”

You walked in, holding the beer. “You said to come back if I bring beer, figured it might cheer you up a bit,” you said, smiling.

Todd jumped slightly. “Oh, you _were_ there.” You paused, confused. What did he mean by that? “Just set it on the table and then head up to our room or something, ok?”

You did as he asked, albeit with concern and caution. “Who are you talking to?” you asked shakily. He’d called them ‘baby’.

“No one, just Jackie.”

You looked at him in disgust. “Just a receptionist? I heard you call her baby!”

He shrugged. “Well, you were bound to find out sooner or later I guess. Calm down, it’s not that bad.”

“Not that bad?!” you cried out. “You’re cheating on me!”

“Not much. Besides, I look after you more than I look after her.”

“It’s over, Todd,” you spat.

He chuckled slightly. “I’ll call you back, mmk?” he said to the phone and hung up. “Where would you go, _____?” he asked softly.

“Back home,” you said shakily.

“Would they accept you the way I did? You haven’t spoken to them in over a year now. Do they still love you?”

“I-” you gulped. “Y-yes?”

“Would _I_ still love you if you hadn’t spoken to me in over a year?” he asked, leaning forward and clipping his words harshly. You shake your head. “Then why would they?”

“I- I can get my own place,” you said, your defiance shaking.

Todd raised his eyebrows. “With what money, it’s under my name. Tax purposes, remember?” he said with a small smile. His eyes softened. “Besides, I still love you. I never want to let you go.”

“I- I don’t believe you!” you said, backing away. He’d hurt you before, but this was a new low. “Why would you cheat on me?!”

Todd rolled his eyes slightly. “You’ll come around by the evening. I know you still love me too. You’re taking this much harder than you should. Maybe I should’ve let you kill yourself that night I found you in the bathroom.”

Your eyes filled with tears. How could he say something like that? He’d helped you through that so lovingly. He’d cared for you, he’d taken you to the hospital and told you to not worry about the bill… You would’ve died that night if it wasn’t for him. Was it all a lie?

///

You open your eyes, gasping for air. Your face is wet with tears and your throat feels scratchy and dry. Your chest is spasming and you shakily sit up. Why should that memory cause an attack? It wasn’t physical pain. But it hurts like it was. The words ring around your head, again and again, switching and swapping until only two words seem real out of it. _Kill yourself._ This hurts. And you don’t know why. What point is there in staying alive? It’s like it’s happening all over again. You want to get out. You have no money, you have no one to care for you. But this time, there’s no one stopping you. It hurts. It makes you want to rip out your own heart because surely that would hurt less. Stab. Cut. Something. Yourself. Would it help? You think back on the times you had. The bite of metal, the short second of flashing hot pain in a single point of the body. It had helped those times. You shakily make your way into the kitchen.

_Where are the knives?_

_They’re in the block, in the draw. Take your pick, _____. Not like it f*cking matters._

_Hurt_  
Harm  
Kill

“_____?!!”

The knife wobbles shakily in your hand as you pick it up, determined that this is the only thing that can help you and those around you. _It would be easier if you were gone._

“_____!!!! KNIVES ARE DANGEROUS AND YOU AREN’T HOLDING IT CORRECTLY!!” Papyrus shrieks, grabbing it from you.

You gasp for air, feeling like your lungs are collapsing in on themselves. _Harm. Get the knife back._

 _Don’t! You might hurt Papyrus._ You breathe as deeply as you can, though it’s still shaky and shallow. You can’t now. Not with Papyrus around. You dig your nails into your arm as you fold them over your chest.

“YOU HAVE TO HOLD KNIVES LIKE THIS. THE POINT FACING DOWNWARDS. YOU’RE SUCH A BRILLIANT COOK, I THOUGHT YOU WOULD KNOW THAT!!” He puts the knife away and looks at you properly. “ARE YOU OK? YOU DON’T LOOK VERY OK. DO YOU…. AHHH… WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT OVER THE PHONE? I’M NOT GOOD AT THIS SORT OF THING IN PERSON…” he asks awkwardly.

You chuckle a little. “Thanks Papyrus, but, n-no. I don’t think you’d be able to help me at the moment.” You put a hand to your face and breathe shakily.

“OH. OH, ALRIGHT THEN. I, AHHHH, NEED TO MAKE A PHONE CALL! I’LL BE BACK!”

He walks out of the kitchen and out of the front door. _He’s gone._ You snatch up the knife, but drop it before you can even figure out what you’d do with it. You sink to the floor, just staring at it, tears welling up in your eyes. You thought you’d already cried yourself out. Apparently not. You can faintly hear Papyrus talking on the phone.

“I GOT HOME… YES, SHE WAS THERE…” You know he’s talking about you to someone. Probably Undyne. She would’ve wanted him to check up on you. She left early and didn’t know how it went, of course she’d want to know how it all went down. About killing children. “NO. NO, IT DIDN’T SEEM LIKE IT. SHE… KNIFE… NOT EVEN HOLDING IT CORRECTLY! LUCKILY I WAS THERE TO- HELLO?? HELLOOO???”

You suddenly back up against the bench. Sans pops into existence right in front of you. “Holy sh*t, _____ are you-”

“Go away!!” you screech, backing up further against the bench.

“_____, please-”

“SHUT UP!!” you yell, angry tears trickling down your cheeks. He stops, dead silent. You breathe shakily. “What do you want?” you mutter.

Sans pauses for a moment before realising you’re actually looking for an answer. He takes a deep breath and speaks slowly. “To apologise and to make sure you’re ok. I said a lot of things I didn’t mean and I’ve thought about it for a little while. I asked Papyrus to check on you and I think he’s making a phone call to Undyne. Do you want me to stop him?” He chuckles listlessly. “Because I have a lot more to say to you before she comes.”

You aren’t quite sure what to do. Todd never apologised so soon after such a massive argument. No fight that big had ever happened. You had learnt quickly not to yell back. But Sans was here, apologising and asking if you would listen. You nod slowly, not quite sure of yourself and feeling exhausted and shaky.

“I’ll be right back.” He disappears for a moment. You stare at the knife.

_End it._

_Hear him out._

_He doesn’t want you._

_He apologised._

_Todd apologised. Todd didn’t give a sh*t._

_Not like this though…_ You think hard on that last line. Todd apologised by giving you presents and attention. Sans… Well, going by his idea of what love is, was actually caring for you. Even after an awful fight.

He pops back into the kitchen with a shy chuckle. “Well, Undyne’s already on her way, but we can head out and Paps knows to tell her I’m apologising cuz I was an asshole.”

You look up at him with a weak smile. “Those words exactly?” you ask hoarsely.

Sans smiles softly back. “Those words exactly. Are… Are you coming?” he asks hesitantly, holding out his hand again.

_Take it_

_Don’t._

_Maybe…_

_Why should you?!_

_Yes_

_No._

_Take._

_Don’t!_

_His._

_NO!_

_Hand._

You reach up and grab his hand tightly. You feel the familiar whoosh of teleporting. It pitches your stomach more than usual. When you hit the ground, you slump over, your stomach heaving. “Are you ok?!” Sans asks, rushing over to you. You sit up shakily, shaking your head. A wave of nausea hits and you throw up on the grass next to you. It scalds your throat; you can’t remember when you last ate. It burns. Sans jumps back. “I, uh… I take that as a no…” he mumbles. “Do you need space? Help? What can I do??” he asks nervously.

You retch, but nothing more comes up. You cough and force yourself to swallow. It tastes disgusting. “Water…” you groan huskily. Even that hurts. As if your throat wasn’t hoarse enough already.

“I’ll be right back!” he yelps quickly. He vanishes, leaving you lying next to a puddle of your own stomach acid. He’s back extremely quickly with a glass and a bucket of water. “Do you want to drink it or splash in it??” he asks, concerned. You give a painful laugh and hold your hand out for the glass. He takes the hint and gives it to you. You drink thirstily, swishing the last bit around your mouth and spitting it out again. As you drink, he clears away the bile.

You breathe deeply. You feel quite shaken and sweaty, but you feel almost ok. “Thanks,” you mumble.

Sans put the bucket down and kneels next to you. “Before I apologise, I’m so glad you’re alright. Papyrus said he’d found you with a knife, staring at your arm in the kitchen and oh god I’m glad I called him at the right time…” Sans looks panicked.

“What do you mean, ‘right time’? It was hardly two minutes,” you mumble, dragging the bucket over and refilling your glass.

Sans looks at you, even more worried. “_____, I was out for two hours. I thought about it for two hours, nothing in between. What happened?” He looks you in the eyes. Was your flashback that long? Had you been out of reality for two whole hours?? Your confusion seems to be enough for him to put two and two together. “Oh f*ck, I caused a… sh*t, I’m so so sorry.” He wraps you up in a hug. You feel frightened and confused for a moment. What is going on?? Is this the same person who was yelling at you two minut- no, two hours ago?? “I didn’t mean to cause an episode, I’m sorry…” He pulls away from you. “Oh, sorry, I probably should’ve asked, I…” he sighs. “Sorry.” He takes a deep breath. “Ok. I want to apologise for what I said back there. It’s been bugging me for the past two hours. Can… can I talk it out?” he asks softly.

You nod slowly, still feeling sick. “A-and, you just want me to listen, n-not interrupt?” you murmur. He nods. “Ok.”

He takes another deep breath. “I said that I would’ve killed Frisk. I wouldn’t. Not now. Definitely not now. I know them, they’re my friend, and this Frisk would never kill Papyrus or anyone. They aren’t the Frisk from my dreams. And you’re right, _____. It wasn’t right to kill six children. The king knew that. Everyone did. It was just accidental luck that kids were the humans to fall down. Not all monsters agreed. A lot didn’t kill children. Most passively agreed because it was the only way to get out. I’ll admit, I was one of those who agreed, but not actively. I’d given up hope of ever getting out. When Frisk came along, that might’ve changed. But, hey. I made a promise not to. And I’m glad I didn’t. Even those most hellbent on killing Frisk ended up befriending them. Who’s to say the children weren’t the same? The king did the wrong thing and we supported it because, well, he’s the king, and we were stuck in a volcano.” He pauses for a moment. “You know, Tori and Asgore had this argument before they got back together, too. I remembered talking with Toriel about it. What she said was a lot like what you said, just…” he chuckles slightly. “With a little less yelling.”

You smile slightly at that. You’re quite relieved he didn’t actively want to kill children and you’re even more relieved that he made that promise. “I can’t really imagine Toriel yelling like that.” You think back on some of the things that were yelled. “Or swearing.”

Sans snorts. “Yeah, me neither, but I reckon she might’ve the first time that argument happened. But, uh, back to us. Our argument. Thing.” He clears his throat. “You said that we should’ve tried harder to find another way out. Thing is, we were. We were actively trying the whole time. Well, Alphys was. Until the experiments went wrong, dead bodies came back to life-”

You spit out the sip of water you had just put in your mouth. “What?!”

Sans grins sheepishly. “The amalgamates. You remember Doge?”

“Doge was dead??” you ask horrified. That did not help the queasy feeling in your stomach.

“Ah ha ha, more or less. Not quite. Basically they were all so near to death that they couldn’t respond, like a coma.”

“They…?” you ask nervously.

“Doge is multiple monsters fused together with determination. Experiments gone wrong. It wasn’t supposed to happen, but… well, we love them all anyway.” Sans sighs. “Now back to this longass apology.” You chuckle weakly. “I shouldn’t have said anything about letting you kill yourself. That was never an option. I shouldn’t’ve put the death of children as a stepping stone to helping you. It happened and even if it was because of that, I never should have said it and it wouldn’t have made a difference if I’d been here anyway. I still would’ve stopped you, because life matters. When I have to, I look at things logically so I can make a decision. It… it seems cold, but seven lives that would’ve died down there anyway… It made sense to do that instead of killing our own to experiment on them differently.” You bite your lip. You want to speak up again, say that he’s contradicting himself. But you hold your tongue. “It was less life lost to kill seven than who knows how many monsters of an already dying species. We didn’t want to. Even the king hated the idea of killing children, hell, he’d raised a human child as his own! It was last resort and it wouldn’t have happened if we could have stopped it.” He shakes his head slightly. “Sorry, I’m getting off-topic. I shouldn’t have put your life in that argument. That was never part of it. And I’m really sorry for doing it.” He takes a deep breath and sighs. “One last thing I need to apologise for, tell me if you want me to stop at any point. I am so sorry that I brought up, well….”

“Todd?” you finish numbly for him.

He nods lamely. “In conclusion, I f*cked up bad, I can see where you’re coming from and I’m really, really sorry. Will you forgive me?”


	46. ...

"Not yet."


	47. Chapter 47

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry I left this for so long!! That's a miserable cliff hanger! I was just so busy with everything that started in the new year I just hadn't had the time to update on this one! So sorry guys

Sans’ face falls. You flinch slightly and shut your eyes, waiting for him to lash back, say that it was the wrong answer. Yell that you need to agree and that he’s all you have. 

Nothing. 

Silence. 

You open your eyes slowly to find him sitting down in front of you, looking at you in concern. “Are you alright?” he asks gently.

The question slaps you in the face. You refused his apology and... he still cares? What is this? “I- why?” you ask. You almost want him to scream and shout and tell you that you need to accept him.

He blinks in confusion. “What do you mean why? Why did I feel the need to apologise? Why did I argue in the first place?”

“I…” You shake your head to try and clear your thoughts. “Why aren’t you mad at me?”

Sans looks back at you aghast. “Mad at you?? Why should I be? I literally asked you if you would have rather died the day I met you, Jesus, why would I be mad at you saying not yet?”

“But…” You stare at your hands. “But I should accept apologies.”

Sans looks you dead in the eyes. “You have every right to not accept an apology. What I did was wrong, what I said was wrong and I honestly wish those things unsaid.” You still think he should be at least a little bit more upset. He pauses. “Would it help to talk through why ‘not yet’?” he asks softly. You shrug. Sans looks at the ground. “It… it would help me, if that’s alright. Don’t feel pressured, no is enough. I just want to know if… If I can still make this friendship work.”

You take a deep breath. “I just… I need time to think… I need to process this sh*t. I- You’ve had two hours, I…” You bite your lip and shake your head. “I don’t understand it yet. I need to talk it out with… with someone else I think,” you mumble. Sans nods slowly. You can tell that he’s a bit hurt by that. “It, it’s not you!” you stammer. “It’s just… I… You’re part of what I need to talk about- but not, in like, a- a bad way, I just…” You look up at him helplessly. “I’m sorry, I’m just making this worse...”

He catches your hands. You didn’t realise they were shaking until now. “_____, you’re not making this worse. I understand. I had two hours to think it over, you’ve had not even a minute. It’s ok. You’re perfectly right, you do need to talk to someone who isn’t me. Or Papyrus for that matter. Maybe not Undyne or Alphys either.” He pauses. “Toriel has been in this situation before. Would you like me to take you to her house?”

You stare at the ground, fighting back tears. This isn’t how apologies work, someone apologises, the other person forgives. You screwed it up. _That’s all you’re good for, screwing things up._

“_____,” Sans says softly. “Crap…” he mumbles. He lets go of your hands. They start to tremble like leaves in a hurricane. You hear a soft hum and your hands stop shaking so much. Blinking back tears, you look up to see Sans holding his soul close to his chest. “Hey, it’s gonna be ok,” he murmurs, trying to calm you down. “It’s alright, you’re ok. You did the right thing, you’re safe.”

_Human killers, that’s what monsters are_

_No. Not anymore and not by choice. You are-_

“-safe.” Sans’ voice cuts through your thoughts. A gust of wind picks up and a few leaves get swept up and fly at the two of you. Sans cries out, pulling his soul closer to his chest, cradling it.

You open your eyes fully and look up at him, startled. “Are you alright?” you ask, sitting up on your knees and leaning towards him.

Sans chuckles weakly, still cradling his soul close to his chest. “Y-yeah, just a leaf. Are you ok?” 

You shake your head. “What happened, are you hurt?” you ask softly. There’s a tiny mark on his soul, a little hairline fracture, not even a quarter of an inch long.

“Heh, not for long,” he mumbles. He puts his soul back into his chest and pulls a bottle of ketchup out of his coat, drinking it straight. He breathes deeply and then looks back at you. “Sorry, I’m alright now.” He grins weakly. “Having my soul out is dangerous in and of itself. Don’t really wanna die out here.” You nod, biting your lip. Your head’s in a spin. So much has happened in so little time. You just feel tired and sick. “You want to talk to someone, right?” You nod numbly. “Would you like to talk to Toriel?”

Without quite knowing why, you shake your head. “No,” you mumble. “She… she isn’t me.”

Sans almost chuckles at that. “No one is you, _____. You’re unique, remember? Individuality like I’ve never seen.”

You shake your head slightly. “N-no, that’s not what I mean, I… she’s too… mom-like,” you mumble.

Sans looks at you a little confused. “O-ok… Who else is there? I mean, there’s Asgore, but I don’t think that’s a good idea considering the uh, topic…”

“Mettaton.”

“What?” Sans asks.

“I- I can talk to Mettaton,” you say with a little more assurance.

Sans shrugs. “If that works, sure. Do… Do you want me to take you there?” he asks cautiously. 

You bite your lip. “Tiny jumps?” you ask quietly. He gets up and helps you to your feet. Your legs shake a little beneath you.

“‘Course we can.”

It takes a good many jumps to get all the way to Mettaton’s house, and even then you still feel a bit queasy. When the two of you reach the door, Sans is supporting a lot of your weight as you’ve moved from holding his hand to leaning on him throughout the jumps. You stand up properly, swaying a little, but managing to stand alright without retching. Sans looks at you with concern, but you nod and take a shaky step up to the door. You knock softly. You don’t think Mettaton would’ve heard it. You take a deep breath and prepare to knock again. “I’m a little busy at the moment, darling! I’ve got a show to perform in-”

“You aren’t too busy for this,” Sans calls through the door. The door opens shortly after.

You stand on the doorstep, shaking. Mettaton’s eyes widen in shock. “_____, are you alright?!” he gasps. You glance back at Sans. He stands behind you, hands in his pockets, his shoulders slouched. Mettaton frowns. “What happened darling, come in and we can have a talk. Tea? Coffee?”

You shake your head. “N-no thanks, I-”

“Get her something to eat please, she needs something in her stomach,” Sans mumbles. He takes a step back and vanishes.

Mettaton looks at you seriously. “What happened between the two of you? I can simply smell the drama coming off the two of you and Sans hasn’t looked like that since he was in the underground.” You nod. He's right about the drama. “Come in, Blooky is looking after the snail farm. It’s just us in the house.” You step in carefully and Mettaton leads you into the dining room, sitting at the table across from you. He looks across at you gently. “What are you here for?” he asks softly, using the same voice he uses for Napstablook. 

You take a deep breath. “To talk.” You bite your lip and look at the table. “You’re right, something happened.”

Mettaton laces his fingers together and rests his chin on his hands. “_____, darling, just talk. Tell me everything you want to get out. I won’t tell a soul.”

Despite his showbiz side, you find yourself trusting Mettaton. He takes good care of his cousin, he clearly knows how to look after people that need it. So you talk. You tell him about your life with Todd, running away from home, staying with Todd for five years, wanting to leave but still loving him. You leave out most of the details of why you left to avoid an attack, but enough for Mettaton to know that it was bad. You tell him about Fran, who took you in without a second thought, her son and how he kicked you out, how you never got to say goodbye. You tell him about the book, why you loved it, why you hate it but still keep it anyway. He just listens, nodding every-so-often. You tell him about how you planned to pitch yourself off the edge of the mountain, how Sans found you before then and how he took you in like Fran. You can feel yourself tearing up at this point. “S-sorry,” you mumble, wiping your eyes.

“Don’t apologise, darling, tears are perfectly natural,” he says softly, reaching over and touching the back of your hand soothingly. “And, for what it’s worth, I’m glad you’re still here.”

You sniff. “Thanks,” you mumble.

He retracts his hand. “Carry on.”

You chuckle slightly. “Well, the last week’s been a bit of a blur. Nightmares, war talk, seeing souls-”

“Souls?” Mettaton interjects quietly.

You nod. “I… I didn’t tell you before, but when I saw my soul, Sans showed me his.”

Mettaton closes his eyes. “Of all the things in the underground,” he mumbles under his breath. He breathes deeply and opens his eyes again. “Did he give a reason as to why?”

You shake your head. “No, n-not really. Just that he’d seen mine, he thought it was only fair.”

Mettaton nods slowly. “I see.”

You look at the table. “I really liked that night,” you murmur softly. “Mine glowed a bright red, his was a soft white. They sounded so beautiful.” You can feel Mettaton watching you carefully. Looking up at him only confirms the feeling. “The sound is soothing. It calms me. That’s why he takes out his soul whenever I have a… moment.”

Mettaton raises an eyebrow. “He’s done it on multiple occasions?”

You nod. “It’s one of the few things that calms me down quickly. He… he did it again today. A leaf brushed against it while it was out.” Mettaton winces heavily. Clearly it’s not just painful for Sans. “Even… even after the fight.”

“The fight?” Mettaton inquired gently.

You can feel the tears prickling at your eyes again. “He told me about the… the children.”

Mettaton lets out a small sigh. “I knew that would come up eventually.”

“So did he. I think he was avoiding it. We ended up screaming at each other and he told me that they had to die for him to have saved me, asked me if I would’ve rathered that he let me die, told me that humans were cruel, said he would’ve killed Frisk if he hadn’t made a promise and- and…” You break off in tears. Mettaton comes around the table and puts an arm around your shoulders. You don’t have the energy to flinch away.

“Darling. I know it hurts,” he murmurs.

You sniff loudly. “H-he, he left a-after s-saying that Todd and I b-belong together and I sh-should just go back to him…” you whisper hoarsely. The words still hurt, even after the apology. Mettaton purses his lips. You take a deep breath. “I- I don’t quite know what happened after that. Apparently I was out for two hours, I had an attack, then when I came around, I…”

“Did you want to hurt yourself?” Mettaton asks gently. You nod. “What stopped you, if you don’t mind my asking?”

“Papyrus,” you murmur with a small smile. “He scolded me for not holding the knife safely.”

Mettaton breaks into a shaky laugh. “Oh the darling creature, of course he did.”

“He ran out, called Sans and he was there in an instant,” you mumble. “Then we left the house, I threw up and he apologised.”

Mettaton raises an eyebrow. “Really? Sans never apologises for the world unless it’s Papyrus. He stands firm in what he says. I.. respect him for that, in most cases. What did he apologise for?”

You shrug slightly. “For saying all the hurtful sh*t. Clarified a lot of it. Said he’d never hurt Frisk now. Said that he hated the fact that children died. Only passively agreed with it because seven children is less than however many monster lives it took in experiments…”

“He helped with some of the earlier experiments,” Mettaton murmurs. “Later, when the amalgamates were around, sometimes he took care of them. He was up close and personal with a lot of those failed experiments. That’s why Alphys would have told him about me, I suppose,” he murmurs to himself as an afterthought.

“He said that he never should have brought my life into it, that he would’ve saved me no matter what, that he’s glad I’m alive and whatnot. And he said he really f*cked up with the Todd thing.” You pause, silent tears spilling down your cheeks. 

“Did you accept that apology?” Mettaton prompts softly.

“No,” you mumble. “Well, yes? Not really, I-” You sigh. “I don’t know. I know he’s sorry. I know he feels awful for it. I don’t want to lose him.”

“Why not?”

“I-” You bite your lip, tasting the salt of your tears. “That’s what I want to talk about.”


	48. Chapter 48

“So, might I clarify something?” Mettaton asks gently, leaning away slightly. You wipe the back of your hand across your eyes and nod. He presses his index fingers together, putting them to his lips. “You had an argument with Sans, passed out for two hours of memories, tried to hurt yourself, Papyrus busted in at Sans’ request, Sans immediately comes back and apologises with a clearly thought out apology.” You nod again. “And the two of you have been very close friends these past days?”

You nod slowly. “W-what are you getting at?” you ask nervously.

Mettaton shakes his head. “Oh, no, nothing in particular, I just need to organise everything in this pretty head of mine,” he says with a small, almost knowing smile. He taps the side of his head with a finger. “Memory banks are a little low on space,” he chuckles. “Now. You said you wanted to talk about not losing Sans. I can see that this friendship must mean a lot to you.”

You nod, biting your lip. “I- y-yeah, I’ve never really had many friends anyway.”

“I can imagine that this community of immediate friends is a little overwhelming for you then. It certainly was for Blooky. And, from what I understand, Sans as well.”

You snort. “Wasn’t he friends with everyone already? He knew Alphys and Toriel, got to know Frisk and Papyrus was already his brother.”

Mettaton smiles ruefully. “Of course, I shouldn’t overstep.”

You pause, thinking for a moment. “The second night I was there, he told me he doesn’t really talk about deep stuff with anyone. Is that what you mean?”

Mettaton pauses for a moment. “I suppose so, yes. He… never really stuck to anyone. Toriel was his closest friend.”

You raise an eyebrow. “Was?” you ask.

Mettaton smiles slightly. “Darling, I’m pretty sure you’ve surpassed Toriel in levels of friendship if that’s what you’re asking.”

You look at the ground. “Have I though? I don’t think they’ve ever fought.”

Mettaton frowns slightly and leans forward. “Do you think that’s a sign of a perfect and close friendship?”

You shrug. “W-well, I mean, I know fighting isn’t good, so doesn’t it make it better?”

Mettaton shakes his head. “_____, darling, constant fighting is a sign of a terrible friendship. Or a relationship of any kind, really. But no fights means that it isn’t a deep relationship. If you never fight with your friend or, ah, significant other, then you’ve never touched on something you don’t both agree on whole-heartedly. And that means that either one of you is lying and gritting their teeth, or no one’s asking the tough questions. It will fall apart. Does that make sense?” Mettaton asks kindly.

You sit and mull on it for a moment. “I… suppose so, but friendships fall apart when you fight. That’s…” You trail off, giving a half-hearted laugh. “That’s what happened here.”

Mettaton raises his eyebrows, leaning on his elbow that’s propped up on the wooden table. “Is it?” You look up at him, your eyes full of half thought out questions. Mettaton purses his lips, nods to himself, and then reaches out to put his free hand on your shoulder. “Darling, I know it hurts. I know it’s awful what happened. I’m not excusing it. But it’s only going to fall apart if you let it. He’s trying to reach out and mend things. It’s up to you whether you take his offer or not.”

Your lip trembles and a tear slides down your cheek. “I… I know, I just…” 

“It’s ok darling, take a deep breath.”

You breathe deeply and let out a slow breath. “I don’t want to lose him,” you murmur.

Mettaton nods gently, his head still resting on his hand. “I don’t think he wants to lose you either, _____. We’ve already established that you’re his best friend.”

You nod slowly. “I just… I can’t help but feel this is so similar to last time.”

Mettaton sits up properly. “Has Sans hurt you in any way? Physically? Broken anything of value? Threatened you? Pressured you into something you don’t want to do?” he asks sharply.

You reel back at his change of tone. “N-no! W-well, he did threaten me slightly, but on the first day and it was to protect Papyrus,” you stammer quickly.

Mettaton breathes a deep sigh of relief. “Good.” He relaxes again, leaning his chin on his hand. “So, if you don’t mind my asking, what reminds you of last time?”

You shrug slightly awkwardly. “W-well, he saved me from killing myself, he took me into his house, cared for me and took me places and, well, he told me things he’d never told anyone…” You pause. “N-no, wait, never mind the last one, Todd had told others, he just lied.” You shake your head and regain your train of thought. “Then after we fight, he… he…” You trail off, confused. It’s not the same, that’s for sure. “N-no… T-Todd would act like nothing happened, like he’d done nothing. He’d… he’d fix the damage and then say I owed him for it… I sometimes wondered if the fights had even happened…”

“Has Sans done that?” Mettaton asks softly. You shake your head, confused at how you thought that they were anything like each other. “Would you mind telling me what he did do after your argument?”

You shift in your seat, trying to remember details. “W-well, he showed up suddenly. I think he said something like ‘holy sh*t are you ok’. I yelled and he told me he wanted to apologise and… and make sure I was ok.”

Mettaton nods. “Go on?” he asks, not wanting to push you.

You nod. “He told Papyrus to tell Undyne to wait bec-” You chuckle slightly. “Because he was an asshole, those words exactly.”

Mettaton chuckled. “You think Papyrus might have sworn? Good heavens!”

You shrug. “I dunno, maybe.”

Mettaton smile slightly. “Well, he might for his brother I suppose. Anyway darling, do continue.”

You take a deep breath. “W-well, we teleported, I threw up, he got me water, he apologised for everything we fought about, breaking down the arguments, explaining his side and apologising for anything he didn’t truly believe which… which was most of it.”

Mettaton nods. “Sans likes to be logical,” he murmurs. “It makes sense that he would lay it all out like that. Odd, however. The argument must’ve been rather emotional if he didn’t truly believe what he said.” 

You press your lips together and nod. “We were yelling at each other, yelling over each other and each reason was worse than the next. I… I put blame where I shouldn’t have though,” you murmur softly. “I should apologise to Alphys. I didn’t know she was working on the solution the whole time…”

Mettaton shakes his head. “Yes, but I think we can worry about that later. Right now, let’s just focus on one issue. You don’t live with Alphys, remember.”

Mettaton is right. You have to sort out this argument with Sans, you lived with him and slept together. You couldn’t just hope it would go away. It wasn’t going to. “R-right,” you mumble, staring at the floor. “So… what now?” you mumble.

“Well, darling. I think you still need to finish your story. What happened for you to show up on the doorstep with Sans looking miserable?”

“Miserable?” you ask, your facing scrunching up in disbelief. “You think?”

Mettaton leans back in his chair. “Darling, I don’t _think,_ I know. I haven’t seen him with both hands in his pockets and his shoulders slumped in a long time, let alone with his back bent in half and ketchup on his sleeves.” 

You shrug and stay quiet. You’ve only known him for a week, you can’t really say you know his quirks and mannerisms. Well, certainly not all of them. You sigh. “After he apologised, two words just fell out of my mouth. I can’t really remember how or why. Just two words. Not yet. I- I think I just needed at least some time to process it. I…” You pause, thinking of how best to word this. “I think I’m ah… um, well, coming to terms with the whole children thing. It’s still pretty… pretty awful.”

Mettaton nods. “Of course, it is awful and messy and a tragedy, but it is what it is. Arguing can’t change it. I think that was the main reason Toriel could forgive Asgore for what he did.” Mettaton looks you dead in the eyes. “But that’s not the issue.”

“Then what is the issue?” you ask, slightly surprised.

Mettaton sits up properly, folding his hands in his lap. “Darling, what’s happening here is that you’re comparing Sans to Todd. Why?”

You frown slightly. “Well, I- I’m trying to p-protect myself. I don’t… I don’t know what’s right from wrong. I don’t know how to act, how I should be treated. For so long, I was squished into this tiny role of usefulness. I… I don’t really know who I am.”

Mettaton sighs, rubbing the side of his head with his fingers. “That… partially answers the question. And that’s something that you’re going to find out the longer you’re away from Todd. But unless there is a terrible similarity between Sans and Todd, abuse, neglect or violence… Well, you know they’re wrong now. Now that you’re out of it, you know that’s wrong.” Mettaton shakes his head slightly. “I shouldn’t intervene, but the way you’re comparing the two of them seems to me as though you see Sans taking his place one day.”

Your eyes widen. “H-huh? What do you mean?” Panic rises in your chest. Sans turn out like Todd? Sure, you notice some similarities but to imagine him starting to abuse and torment you… 

Mettaton reaches out and clasps your hand. “Shh, shh, I mean only as a relationship. Do you honestly think he’d get away with that with all of us here to protect you? Besides,” Mettaton murmurs, looking you in the eye, “He hasn’t done a thing to hurt Papyrus.”

That makes you calm down. Sans had already proven to be able to take care of you. But that means… You blush slightly. “S-so, you’re asking, like… if I like him, r-right?” you mumble. Mettaton nods slowly, watching you carefully. “N-no! I- I don’t _like_ h-him…” Mettaton just looks disbelievingly at you, his eyebrows raised. “I… um…”

“Darling, I promise faithfully that I won’t tell a soul.”

You sigh. “I’m just confused,” you mumble, your shoulders slumping. “I- I think I do like him. But, I just don’t know what to do and then we’ve had this fight, but he apologised and he still cared for me even after I said no, then he brought me here, even though he doesn’t seem to particularly like you-”

Mettaton chuckles at that. “He can be a bit colder towards me than others, but I honestly think that it’s because he doesn’t like the false pretence and bravado. He… respects me well enough though.”

You bite your lip. “Sorry, I didn’t mean-”

“No no, it’s quite alright. Please, I shouldn’t have interrupted.”

You nod and take a deep breath. “My point is, he cared even after a fight. That’s… never happened to me before.”

Mettaton looks sadly at you. “Darling, that’s what friends do. That’s what partners do. Sans and Papyrus do that. They have their fights and squabbles like all brothers and friends. Alphys and I have fought. And I’m sure Undyne and Alphys will fight at some point. Toriel and Asgore fought, many times. They’ve been together for about three centuries when you add it all up, there’s bound to be fights. But they still care for each other. Even when they disagr-” Mettaton breaks off as a boppy and simple ringtone starts to go off. “Sorry darling, I’ll just take this.” Mettaton pauses for a moment, just listening to what you assume to be his ringtone with a small smile on his face. Then he quickly answers it. “Hello darling, the fabulo- yes?” You concentrate on not listening in on the conversation. It’s hard. “Yes, yes, she’s alright. No, I haven’t ye-” Mettaton winces and pulls the phone away from his ear. You could hear a staticky high-pitched squeal from the receiver. “Goodness.”

There’s a knock at the door. “Were you expecting anyone?” you ask hesitantly. “I can go if you want, I can-”

Mettaton shakes his head. “No, darling, I have a feeling I know who it-” The person knocks again, louder this time and more insistent. “Coming darling!” he yells, prancing down the hall. The door opens. You can hear a muffled conversation from the other side of the house. Then Mettaton is racing backward down the hall, his hands held placatingly in front of him. “We were talking and I didn’t want to stop her and I just hadn’t-”

“I _told_ you to feed her!” Sans huffs angrily. “Get outta the way,” he grumbles, barging into the kitchen. Your face pales slightly, not exactly in fear, just… uncertainty. 

“My apologies,” Mettaton mutters. “We were dealing with more pressing matters.”

Sans takes a deep breath, his back to the two of you as he grabs a plate from the cupboard. “Sorry. I know you were, I just… _____ hasn’t had anything to eat since she had popcorn 4 hours ago.” You stare at the table, not sure how to feel. “And then we fought and I haven’t been around to get her anything, I thought you might but… You’re right, it was more important to talk. Sorry.”

Mettaton purses his lips. “Today seems to be a day of apologies, doesn’t it?” he murmurs.

“Watch it,” Sans warns, grabbing something from the fridge. He chuckles slightly. “Not wrong though. _____?”

You look up at him without thinking. It’s hard to ignore when Sans says your name. “Y-yes?” you mumble.

Sans gives you a slight smile, a look of guilt still on his face. “If you need more time to talk, if you want me to head out again, I will. It’s alright. I just… needed to make sure you’re getting taken care of.” You glance at Mettaton who merely looks back at you with a shrug. It’s completely up to you. Sans sets a plate of biscuits in front of you and a mug of hot chocolate. “Do you want me to leave?” Sans asks softly.

You take a deep breath. “Not yet.”


	49. Chapter 49

Sans chuckles slightly in disbelief. “Oh, o-ok then. Shall I, uh, take a seat or…?” he asks.

Mettaton gives you a questioning look. You’re the one who has control in this situation, it would seem. You nod slowly. Sans points at the seat nearest himself. You shrug, taking a fairly deep breath in to mentally prepare yourself. You aren’t quite sure what you want to say, but you know you need to say something. Sans sits down and looks up at you, expectantly, worried and slightly hopeful. You need to break the silence. Neither of them are going to do it. You open your mouth and two words fall out. “I’m sorry.”

Mettaton frowns slightly, you can see him looking uncertain from the corner of your eye. Sans is staring at you in disbelief. “Wh-what?” he splutters. “What for?”

“I- uh… I don’t, um…” You shake your head slightly, feeling tears prickling at the back of your eyes. “I’m sorry, I… I overreacted?” you mumble, getting quieter with every word.

Mettaton takes a seat at the head of the table, watching this interaction wary look on his face. Sans frowns. “Not at all, I literally said I would’ve killed one of my good friends, you had every right to shout at me.” He cringes. “God, I hate that I said that. I feel like sh*t about it.”

You sigh slightly and sit down. “It… It’s ok. You didn’t mean it.”

Sans heaves a sad sigh and hangs his head. “I know, and that’s what I hate most about it.” Mettaton’s head whips around in questioning shock and your eyes widen. “N-no! Not that I want to mean it, or hate not meaning it, it’s just… I don’t get emotional, I’m rational, I don’t like not meaning what I say. It’s stupid. It’s frustrating. That’s when I say stupid sh*t that makes a mess of everything.”

You reach out your hand to him on instinct but flinch back slightly before he sees. “It… it’s alright, I… I really shouldn’t have yelled at you, it made it all worse.”

Sans looks over at you with sad eyes and a weak smile. “_____, why are you so determined to be in the wrong? Why are you so determined to apologise? You don’t need to. I was the one who screwed up here. You had every right to yell and shout, you had every right to not be ok with what I was saying. _I’m_ not ok with what I was saying. I wish it could be unsaid, but I don’t have a reset like Frisk did. I can’t erase the mistake. But I can try and fix it.”

“I just… I should’ve understood sooner,” you mumble weakly, still trying to apologise for whatever fault you can clutch at.

Sans shakes his head. “No. This was my mistake. I should’ve told you when we were calm, when I was in my right mind, when I wasn’t angry. I should’ve thought about what I was saying, I should’ve…” He shuts his eyes and buries his face in his hands in a frustrated groan. “I should’ve done everything differently. I wish I had.”

It hurts to see Sans so distraught. You glance at Mettaton nervously. He raises an eyebrow back. A hug isn’t going to fix this, you can already see that. But… it might help. You get up from your chair slowly and make your way over to Sans. You very awkwardly place your hands softly on his shoulders before taking them off again and tensely wrapping your arms around his shoulders instead of an awkward pat. Sans jolts as you touch him, but after seeing that it isn’t Mettaton, he settles down again into his frustrated and sad state. “It- it’s ok. It… It happened that way and we can’t change it. It’s alright…” you mumble, stumbling over your words as you stop the stiff from behind hug. Mettaton watches on closely. 

Sans turns around and looks you in the eyes. “_____, I never should’ve said those things, you know I’m really sorry, right?” he asks, his voice cracking a little. 

You look over quickly when you hear Mettaton pushing his chair back. You look at him, terrified. Was he planning to leave you in this situation with no guidance or support? “I’m just getting a drink darling, it’s alright,” he murmurs, turning his back on the two of you and wandering over to the kitchen and therefore, the fridge.

“I know, I- I know, I… Sans, I don’t like seeing you this way…” you mumble softly, tears stabbing at your eyes again. “I understand what you s-said-”

“That’s not possible,” Sans mutters bitterly to himself. “I don’t even understand some of the horrid sh*t I said back there. I was projecting all the hate of humans I’ve ever had on you, someone who wouldn’t hurt anyone but herself… I’m a f*cking asshole.”

“S-Sans, please,” you mumble, tears threatening to spill over at any second. “Don’t hate yourself.”

“I promised myself I’d look after you, that I would never hurt you, that I’d always be there for you, and-”

“And you were, e-even when we’d fought,” you say in a hushed whisper, tears trickling down your cheeks. “Sans, stop, please…”

“No, I wasn’t. _I_ was the one who hurt you. I deserve this, _____, I deserve it.”

“No…” you choke out. “You don’t.”

_Sans helps you when you get like this by taking out his soul_

_Is that even possible to try and do??_

_There’s only one way to find out._

You remember the feeling the night Sans had taken your soul out with magic. You focus on it as hard as you can, remembering all the little details, the way it felt, the way it sounded with that faint humming, its scent mingling with the crisp smell of clean sheets… You shut your eyes, remembering the glow, the way it lit up Sans’ face, the way it bounced around the room. Remembering what it looked like, bright red with scarlet cracks running through it from one point. You can feel your chest humming and vibrating slightly. Sans has stopped mumbling self-hatred to himself. You open your eyes, still trying to focus on that and what Sans is doing now that he’s stopped muttering. He’s frowning down at the table. It seems to be in confusion. “That noise… what is it? It sounds familiar, like, from dreams or something. Have you heard it before, or is it just…” He looks up to ask his question and ends up staring at you in absolute astonishment. “... me?” 

“Is it working?” you ask quietly, shutting your eyes again. When he doesn’t answer, you open your eyes, feeling really strained and some sort of exhaustion. 

Sans looks at you in awe. “Do… do you want some help with that?” he asks, slightly timidly.

You nod, your neck tensed from the effort you’re putting in. Suddenly, it releases. The pressure disappears as a faint pop sound rings through the room, accompanied by the hum of your soul. There’s also a muffled squeak and then the sound of running footsteps. You catch a glimpse of Mettaton’s hair as he ducks out of the room. You turn back to Sans. He seems captivated by the sight of your soul floating over the table. “I- I think I scared Mettaton off,” you mumble.

Sans bolts upright and looks around wildly, settling back down when he sees that Mettaton has indeed left the room. “Good,” he mumbles back, not viciously, but more in relief. “It… It would be-”

“Inappropriate?” you finish questioningly. 

He nods, almost spellbound. “It, uh, kinda is now, actually,” he says guiltily. He looks past it at you. “Why are you doing this?” he asks quietly. 

You look back at him with care and concern clearly lined in your face. “B-because I don’t like seeing you upset, and it always seems to calm you and you aren’t letting me help you in any other way and you do it for me and I… uh… It’s working?” you finish lamely. 

Sans gives a weak chuckle. “I suppose it is.” He stares at it closely. “The cracks are different.”

You raise your eyebrows and stare at it yourself. You can’t really see a difference. “There is?”

Sans nods and he reaches up, pointing. “You see the top fork, reaching up to the divot at the top? There used to be another crack beneath it on the left, or uh, your right I suppose. Instead, there’s a tiny chip on the other side.” The tip of his finger accidentally brushes the chip he was talking about. You gasp and double over. It didn’t exactly hurt, you weren’t quite sure what the intense feeling was. It wasn’t pain, but it wasn’t anything you’d felt before. It was what you imagined an intense shock would be like. “Holy sh*t, I’m so sorry, I-”

You hold up your hand, signalling for him to stop apologising. You swallow and straighten back out. “It’s fine,” you gasp out. “What _was_ that??” you ask, almost breathlessly.

Sans has his hands hiding most of his face, a faint blue tinge colouring his face. “I- I don’t know,” he stutters. “I’m just glad it didn’t hurt you.”

“Darling, is everything alright in there?” Mettaton calls out warily.

You blush slightly. “W-we should probably go,” you mumble to Sans. “C-can you, you know…?” You glance at your soul and then down at your body. He gets the message and puts it back in. “Yeah, we’re alright.” You get up and walk quietly out into the living room. You can only assume Sans is following behind. “Mettaton?” you ask.

He looks up from his tablet looking device. “Yes darling?” he asks calmly. 

“We- we’re going to head off now, if that’s alright?” you ask timidly.

Mettaton raises an eyebrow. “If that’s alright? Of course it is, come and go as you please, darling. Will everything be ok from here?” he asks.

You bite your lip and nod. “Thank you,” you murmur, walking up to him.

He smiles, putting down his book and standing up to meet you. “No worries darling.” He holds out his arms questioningly. You smile slightly and wrap your arms around his metal body. It’s oddly warm and it vibrates very gently, giving off a soft electrical hum. “Thank _you_ ,” he says as you step away. “I’m glad you’re comfortable here.”

You nod and look over your shoulder. Sans isn’t actually there. “S-Sans?” you call out nervously.

“I’m still in here,” he calls back, his yell sounding muffled.

Mettaton frowns slightly. “What happened out there darling?” Mettaton asks.

You shrug. “He was pointing out a detail and accidentally brushed my s-” 

Mettaton puts his finger to your lips and a hand to his head, effectively cutting you off and looking very dramatic at the same time. “You tell that to nobody,” he murmurs, his eyes shut.

You blush. “Is it really that bad?” you ask, moving back from his finger.

“Hey.” You turn around to see Sans standing in the doorway. “I, uh… what’s going on here?” he asks, confused.

“He just told me to never tell anyone what happened out there,” you say, gesturing with your head to the room you two had just been in. 

Sans nods quickly. “Agreed.” He stares at Mettaton for a little bit longer. “Are you just gonna keep dramatically posing like that until someone snaps a picture?” 

Mettaton breaks out of his position and shakes his head quickly as if to clear himself of whatever it was that had locked him there. “Sorry darling. So, you’re both heading off, or would you like a debrief too?” Mettaton asks, raising an eyebrow at Sans.

Sans shakes his head, a faint blush on his cheeks. “Nuh-uh. Though, I wouldn’t mind seeing the dossier on me again, see if anything’s changed on it yet,” he teases.

Mettaton chuckles. “Now now, I can’t always be handing that sort of information over to you, one of these days you might destroy it.”

Sans snorts slightly. “You’re not wrong. A-anyway, I just wanted to say… thanks for looking after her. I was… wary about leaving her here, but uh, you did good,” he mumbles, looking at the floor. “So… thanks.”

You watch the interaction with a keen eye. Mettaton chuckles lightly. “Do you want a hug as well, darling?” he taunts.

Sans chuckles. “Nah, I’ll pass on that one.” He almost sounds back to normal. Well, as normal as normal can be at this point. He turns to look at you with a slightly brighter smile than when he came. “Shall we head off then?” he asks, offering you his hand. 

You nod and walk out of the room, not taking his hand even though you want to. You wave goodbye to Mettaton, trying to ignore the slightly hurt look Sans has now. He follows behind. “Goodbye, darling! You’re welcome anytime!”

“Thanks!” Sans shouts back. You smile as you hear Mettaton chuckle in the background. When the two of you are on the other side of Mettaton’s front door, you pause. “Are we gonna teleport back?” Sans asks slightly awkwardly. 

You hold up a finger, telling him to wait for a second. “Y-yes, but, before we go back, I… I just want to say I… I forgive you, ok?” you murmur, looking at the ground. “I understand why you were so worked up, even if you don’t think it was like you, I know you made mistakes but… but you actually cared even after the fight. I didn’t know how to take it, I- I…” You falter, not quite sure what to say next. You look at Sans, somewhat helplessly. 

He looks at you, happily. You can see his smile reaching his eyes now. “Thank you,” he whispers, walking towards you and wrapping his arms around you tightly. “I am so so sorry. I’ll never do it again, I promise…” You hug him back gratefully, even though your heart is pounding in your chest. “Shall we head back?” he asks, still hugging you.

“Y-yeah,” you say. 

He pulls away from you and takes your hand preemptively. He pauses. “How many jumps?” he asks cautiously.

You grin back at him. “Let’s try it in one.” 

When the darkness clears, the two of you are standing in the living room. It spins a little when your vision clears and Sans steadies you. You’ve hardly been there a minute when the front door slams open and Undyne stalks in angrily. “SANS!! What the F*CK did you do?!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Who else wants me to write this entire story from Mettaton's perspective when I'm done??? Cuz I kinda really wanna do that, get all his thoughts on this situation, cuz he's getting all the sides of the story. Maybe I should start a petition and see how many of you would read it


	50. Chapter 50

“Woah woah woah! Calm down!!” Sans pleads, pushing himself in front of you and holding up his hands. “I can e- EXPLAIN!” he yelps. [Music ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsSTTaUfxcs&t=350s)starts playing in the distance, loud and almost metallic in sound as Undyne’s spear materialises.

“GIVE ME ONE GOOD REASON WHY I SHOULDN’T POUND YOU INTO DUST!!”

“UNDYNE!!!!!!! NOOOOOO!!!!! YOU MUSTN’T!!!!!!!!” Papyrus shrieks, sprinting over. “PLEASE, PLEASE PLEASE DON’T!!!! NOTHING BAD HAS HAPPENED!!!”

“NOTHING BAD?!?!?!!” Undyne roars. “SHE NEARLY KI-”

“UNDYNE SHUT THE F*CK UP!” Sans shouts, raising a wall of bones between himself and her. You’re shaking, trembling. Your knees give up and you crumple to the floor.

“LANGUAGE SANS!!!!!” Papyrus wails, not sure how to cope with the two most important people in his life effectively pointing guns at one another.

Undyne actually does shut up, though she takes her death glaring to a whole new level. “What. Did. You. Do?” she hisses.

“Apologised,” Sans states, seeming unafraid, but you can see him trembling from where you sit on the floor.

“YOU DAMN WELL BETTER HAVE!” she screeches back at him. You flinch at the shouting. The music has gone now. That’s some sort of relief; clearly, the urge to fight has passed. “What did you say?? What did you do?! How did you make _____ SO UPSET SHE TRIED TO-” You start sobbing.

“Undyne,” Sans says softly. His tone of voice must have confused her because she doesn’t respond. “Undyne please,” he begs. “Please lower your voice. Please leave _____ out of this. I hurt her enough today as it is, please don’t make it worse.”

Undyne peers over the wall of bones to see you crying on the ground. “Crap,” she mutters, swiping her hand through Sans’ defensive wall. You can hear her wince in pain, but she keeps going. You feel Sans’ arm wrap around your shoulders. You lean into him, fighting off the creeping voices and hazy imagery.

“SANS?? U-UNDYNE?? ARE YOU OK?? _____??? ARE YOU OK????” Papyrus’ voice cries out.

Undyne sighs. You blink open your tear-filled eyes and watch as she turns around, spear gone now, and walks over to Papyrus. “Yeah punk. I’m fine. I can take care of this, but cuz I’m taking care of this, no one’s there to take care of Alphy. I just rushed out with a small warning, she must be terrified. Could you go take care of her for me? Let her know I’ll be back soon, alright?” Undyne says soothingly. It surprises you how quickly she went from demanding answers to speaking softly and making Papyrus feel needed and useful, though it was sort of obvious to you that she didn’t want him around to make things more difficult.

Papyrus brightens up. “I CERTAINLY CAN! I SHALL MAKE IT MY NUMBER ONE PRIORITY!” He goes sprinting off into the distance. Undyne nods to herself and then turns back to you and Sans.

She takes a deep, calming breath. “So. What happened while I was gone?” she asks, her voice shaking as she tries to keep it level and calm.

“I got emotional, said a lot of sh*t that I shouldn’t’ve and stormed out leaving _____ alone,” Sans states, level-headed and factually. “I regretted everything, thought out an apology and hated myself for a solid two hours.”

“YOU LEF-” Undyne checks herself when she notices your flinch as she raises her voice again. “You left her alone for two hours?!?!” she hisses angrily.

Sans takes a shaky breath in. “Yes. I never said that was ok. Can I continue or do you want to threaten me again?” Sans’ words hold no hint of irony. He really is asking her if she wants to threaten him with imminent death.

Undyne shakes her head, sitting down as well. “No, I- I was just really _really_ angry with you,” she mumbles. “Sorry.”

“It’s fine,” Sans says. “I definitely deserved it.” You give him a very weak slap to his hand. “Ow, yeah I did!” Sans protests. You shake your head but say nothing. “I asked Papyrus to check on _____. I didn’t think she wanted to see me after what had happened. Then Papyrus calls me saying that _____ had a knife in her hand and wasn’t holding it properly and I came right over. I took her outside and apologised, she went and had a talk with someone close to her and then we made up and here we are.” You remind yourself to thank Sans later for glossing over the apology part and the fact that you spoke to Mettaton. You didn’t need Undyne interrogating him for that sort of information, even if he wasn’t the sort of person to give it.

Undyne purses her lips. “_____. He says you guys made up. Is that true?” she asks sharply. 

You blink in shock and shrink a little further into Sans’ side before nodding mutely. He tightens his arm around your shoulders protectively. “Is that all you wanted to know?” Sans asks cautiously.

Undyne stands up slowly. “Y-yeah. I just wanted to make sure that you were ok, _____. And uh… to hurt you if you hurt her, but if she forgives you, then… I guess I can too,” she mumbles. “A-and, besides, hurting you would mean killing you, soooo, I’d really rather not.” She gives a wide grin, and though it looks a little forced, it still lightens the mood a bit. “I’ll, I’ll go look after Alphy, she was in a bit of a panic too.”

You reach out suddenly, just before Undyne runs off. “Wait!” you cry out, voice cracking slightly. “I… Can you p-please apologise to Alphys for me? I- I didn’t mean to make her feel awful… I didn’t mean to make it seem like she didn’t try, p-”

“I know, _____,” Undyne says, eerily calm. “If you had meant that, I would’ve come right back over and pounded you to dust.” She grins again. “Don’t worry, I’ll let her know you’re sorry though, she’ll appreciate that!” She’s about to sprint off before she whips back around. “Quick question, do you want me to keep Papyrus at my place until you guys have sorted things out?” Undyne asks quickly. “I can keep him over for a sleepover if you’d like?”

Sans nods. “That… that would be good. We have a lot to talk about and some spaghetti that we don’t want to eat for the nth day in a row,” Sans says with a weak grin. “Thanks, Undyne. I appreciate it.” Undyne gives Sans one final nod and then dashes off. You fall forward onto the floor in a crumpled heap with a groan. Luckily, it isn’t very far to fall when you’re sitting down. “Are you alright?!” Sans asks, slightly panicked.

“Yeah,” you mumble. “Just… done. I don’t wanna make food…”

Sans chuckles slightly. “Well, I can make something if you like, or we can just grab Grillby’s.”

You look up at him with tired eyes. “Which one is less work for me?” you ask bleakly. 

Sans laughs. “Well, I can just make quiche again if you like? That way you don’t have to choose.”

“Perfect,” you mumble, closing your eyes and feeling slightly relaxed. Sans wanders off into the kitchen; you can hear pots and pans clattering as he clears space and gets out what he needs. The floor feels uncomfortable. Your arm is getting squashed and your shoulders are driving into the wooden floor. You shift and turn, trying to find a comfortable position to just relax. Just as you’re about to give up on it, you suddenly don’t feel the floor digging into your bones. It’s comfortable, squishy and soft. You murmur some sort of gratitude, though you don’t know where it’s directed to or what for that matter. Finally comfortable, you relax into sleep.

“_____?” Your consciousness is dragged up from the depths of a dreamless sleep. “_____?” the same voice repeats. It sounds slightly louder. You feel a hand shake you gently. You roll over and blink to clear your eyes.

“Khugh?” you choke out, fighting back the urge to ignore the person murmuring your name. Your eyes focus on the figure before you. It’s Sans. You’re in his bed with blankets tucked up around you. You can hardly feel them against your face they’re so soft. He smiling at you and without thinking, he brushes a strand of hair off your face gently. If you hadn’t just been asleep, you would’ve blushed. But at this point, you’re only just awake enough to notice it. 

“Dinner’s ready,” he chuckles, withdrawing his hand rather suddenly. “Do you want to have it up here?” You nod, feeling a pounding headache. Too much has happened today, far too much. It’s finally caught up with you. As if the throwing up earlier wasn’t enough. But that was hours ago now. You feel your stomach drop as it comes back to you why so much has happened. 

_But you forgave him, it will be ok!_ your mind says frantically, grasping at the happy feeling of being looked after and cared for. It works. Somewhat. There’s still the slight discomfort of that cold drop in the very pit of your stomach, but it’s small enough to pretend it isn't there.

Sans appears back in the room, holding two plates of quiche, two forks and a large bottle of ketchup. “Bone appetit,” he jests, setting the plates down on the end of the bed. “You need help to get up?” You nod and wriggle your arm out of the cocoon that Sans must have put you in. He takes your hand and then pulls you up using magic, not using your hand at all. He hands you your plate. You consider putting ketchup on it. That is, until you see Sans smother his dinner with it. “Ketchup?” he asks, offering it to you.

“I- I’m good thanks,” you say with a small smile. Sans was definitely going to ruin your taste for ketchup, wherever it had been before you met him. The two of you start eating in fairly peaceable silence. “You didn’t find this recipe, did you?” you ask, pausing in between mouthfuls.

Sans snickers. “No, I didn’t. Tori gave it to me when I complained about Papyrus’ cooking way back in the underground. She slid it under the locked door she was behind. It nearly got destroyed by the snow on the ground.” He grins to himself. “That was back when she wasn’t the queen.”

You raise an eyebrow. “She wasn’t?”

Sans shrugs. “You know how I said she and Asgore had a huge disagreement over the, uh, barrier thing?” Sans says, trying to skirt around the subject carefully. “Well, she locked herself away in a small part of the underground. I found the door and we used to tell each other jokes.”

“Is that why you always use a knock-knock joke when you go to her house?” you ask.

He nods. “Yyyup. That was the first type of joke we made together and it’s a tradition now. She does them if she comes over here too.” Sans smiles down at his plate. “It’s fun. Jokes are good. They help me deal with… everything,” Sans mumbles, going back to his dinner.

You nod. “I did that with reading. It let me escape. I used to have so many books,” you murmur, thinking back to the plethora you used to own. Now they were all tucked away at Todd’s house. There's no chance you'll ever see them again and you’re perfectly fine to keep it that way.

“Tori has a lot of books. If there’s ever a quiet day where I don’t manage to get us into trouble, you could borrow some of hers.” Sans pauses. “Unless you prefer Manga or comics. Then you need to go to Alphys, she’s got STACKS.” Sans shrugs. “I’ve got a few books lying around here and there too.” 

You glance at the trash tornado. You hadn’t noticed it before, but it makes a comforting swoosh sound, constant and unchanging. “Well, there’s one of them.”

Sans snickers. “Alphys is the only person who’s read that through the whole way. I couldn’t make myself do it.”

You sigh. “So that’s her sort of book?”

Sans shrugs. “I dunno, probably. I’m sure Undyne could tell you, but they’re all having a fun sleepover.” Sans frowns slightly. “I hope she isn’t showing Papyrus anything too bad.”

You raise an eyebrow. “What? What kind of anime and manga does she own??”

“Whatever was thrown in the garbage. I reckon some humans didn’t want people finding what they watched and threw it down honestly. There’s some… stuff in her collection.”

You chuckle nervously, knowing exactly what that could entail. “R-right, but that’s hardly the sort of thing they’d show to Papyrus, right?”

Sans chuckles just as nervously. “Yeah, as soon as any sort of squid thing appears, Undyne would throw a spear into the screen sooner than subject Papyrus to that.”

You blush slightly and don’t feel quite as hungry anymore. “On literally any other subject...”

Sans grins. “Right, right. Are we finding a new place to sleep tonight, or does Papyrus just have to pick from the ones we’ve already given him?”

You snort. “Hell, make a nest in the bath and we’ll sleep there, he’d never find us.”

Sans eyes light up. “Now, I’d call that genius, except for the fact that you wouldn’t be able to sleep properly. And besides, if you aren’t too tired, we can do something before bed.”

“Like what?” you ask curiously.

Sans shrugs. “I dunno, play a game, learn to tap dance, read a book on quantum physics? I just... like spending time awake a bit more now,” Sans mumbles quietly. “Got something worth living for, ya know?”

You put down your empty plate and relax back into the pillow. “Yeah… I think I might.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Sorry I haven't updated this in forever, but our good old friend Corona decided to screw with everyone's lives... But I will keep this going. I swear. I will finish it out. That's a promise. It's really flattering that people think my work is good enough to read avidly, and what's more, comment on! I read every comment I get, and I appreciate each one dearly. Sometimes I won't respond, other times I will. Often I want to respond but I get sidetracked and then I don't remember until way too late for it to be relevant. I'm sorry about that!! Just know that I read and appreciate each one. You aren't just talking out into the internet void. I'm here.


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